Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)

Correct Answer: PCI DSS

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is the most applicable in this scenario. This regulation is designed specifically for businesses that handle credit card transactions and information, making it the most relevant for a retail company. On the other hand, GDPR is a data protection regulation applicable in the European Union and is typically concerned with personal data privacy, not specifically credit card information. HIPAA is a US regulation concerned mainly with medical and health information, not credit card data. FERPA is a US regulation that protects the privacy of student education records and is not relevant to a retail company.

Correct Answer: Hot Standby

To minimize downtime, the company should choose the 'Hot Standby' DRaaS recovery option. This is because a hot standby involves having a duplicate system running simultaneously with the primary system. In the event of an issue with the primary system, the hot standby can be activated immediately, thereby minimizing downtime. 'Cold Standby' involves having a system ready to be activated, but not yet running. This could result in longer downtime as the system needs to be started up and configured. 'Warm Standby' is a midway point between hot and cold. It has a system that partially runs and will need additional setup to be fully functional, which again could lead to longer downtime than a hot standby. 'Offline Replication' means data is stored and synced less frequently with primary data. This could lead to significant loss of data in case of an issue with the primary system, and it also would require more time to recover. Thus, the other options are less desirable when the primary concern is minimizing downtime.

Correct Answer: 2 hours

The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) refers to the maximum amount of time that a company aims to restore its systems and functions after a disaster or a disruption. In this scenario, the financial institution needs to resume operations within 4 hours after a disaster. Therefore, they should aim for an RTO which is less than or equal to their required recovery time. Of Given options, 2 hours is the only one which is less than 4 hours, meaning systems will be up and running before 4 hours in case of a disaster disrupting the operations. Other options such as 5 hours, 6 hours, and 8 hours are longer than the institution's required recovery time of 4 hours and as such, are incorrect.