Azure achieved ISO 22301 certification, demonstrating industry-leading continuity and disaster recovery

Kareem Anderson

Microsoft’s Ignite 2016 seemed intent on showcasing a company focused on four core pillars of future success, much of which will be backed by its cloud-connected Azure service. The depth of Azure news and announcements coming from Ignite 2016 has been rather incredible and continued to surface as the conference winds down for the day.

In later news, Microsoft’s senior program manager of Azure Resiliency Adam Glick spoke about “Azure’s unmatched business continuity and disaster recovery preparedness.” Addressing the questions about how Microsoft plans and prepares in Azure, Glick walks customers through some of the company’s best practices to fully utilize the data and security redundancies embedded in Azure that is now enabled thanks to its ISO 22301 certification.

For years, we’ve heard from organizations about the importance of disaster preparedness and continuous improvement in their operations to ensure their IT systems can survive, and be restored, in the aftermath of major incidents (such as natural disasters, power outages, or cyber-attacks). As of today, we are the only major cloud provider to prove our commitment of being fully prepared for all eventualities through this internationally recognized standard for business continuity, ISO 22301. Our ISO 22301 certification is applicable across both our Azure public and Azure Government clouds.”

Thanks to Microsoft’s stringent testing for Azure preparedness and security, as well as meeting ISO 22301 certification, customers now benefit from an extensive 3rd party audit of all aspects of Azure’s business continuity that include:

  • how backups are validated
  • how recovery is tested
  • the competency/training of critical staff
  • the level of resources available
  • buy-in by senior management
  • how risks are assessed/mitigated
  • adherence to legal/regularly requirements
  • the process for response to incidents
  • the process for learning from incidents

For more on the specifics regarding Azure’s recent ISO 22301 certification or to find out more about Azure’s public and Government clouds, visit the Azure Blog or https://aka.ms/iso22301cert.