The OT Engineer's Playbook for Backup Validation

This guide addresses the critical process of backup validation in Operational Technology (OT) environments. It outlines the necessity of validating backups to ensure recovery readiness, particularly in scenarios where production systems may fail. The document discusses four essential pillars of backup validation: defining critical systems, architecting reliable backup infrastructures, validating recovery processes, and operationalizing recovery through repeated testing. It emphasizes that backup validation replaces assumptions with evidence, confirming that backups can successfully restore systems. Various validation methods are described, including integrity verification, virtual machine boot testing, hardware restore testing, and disaster recovery exercises, each providing different levels of assurance and confidence. The guide advocates for regular validation practices and documentation of results to enhance recovery readiness and support compliance with security frameworks. Overall, it serves as a comprehensive resource for engineers to develop robust backup validation strategies.