The value of SaaS-delivered disaster recovery for Active Directory

The value of SaaS-delivered disaster recovery for Active Directory

Despite the growing adoption of cloud technologies, many industries — such as banking, government, insurance, and healthcare — remain deeply entrenched in their on-premises infrastructure due to regulatory and operational requirements. Active Directory (AD) is at the heart of this on-premises infrastructure for identity management, yet the AD admin team is often siloed from security and other teams. So when attacks occur, this separation often causes delays, confusion and significant business impact.  

To mitigate these problems, Quest has developed the first-to-market comprehensive SaaS-based disaster recovery solution for on premises AD environments: Quest Disaster Recovery for Identity. It’s always on, always updated and always available via the Quest unified identity cloud platform.

The cost of downtime

Downtime can be incredibly costly, with estimates soaring to millions of dollars per hour. Every minute of downtime matters, especially in scenarios like ransomware attacks or natural disasters. The ability to recover quickly and efficiently is crucial for minimizing financial losses and maintaining business continuity.

Efficiency and speed in recovery

Traditional enterprise backup solutions often fall short in terms of recovery speed, taking days or even weeks to restore operations. In contrast, Disaster Recovery for Identity recovers systems in minutes or hours, significantly reducing downtime and associated costs. This rapid recovery capability is a key differentiator for Disaster Recovery for Identity compared to other Active Directory backup and recovery methods and products.

Security and reputation management

In addition to financial implications, prolonged downtime can damage an organization's reputation. The longer systems are down, the more likely it is to attract negative attention from the media and customers. Effective recovery solutions like Disaster Recovery for Identity not only restore operations quickly but also help protect the organization's reputation.

Streamlined operations and cost savings

Disaster Recovery for Identity offers streamlined operations by allowing recovery for both on-premises and cloud environments through a single SaaS platform in the Quest unified identity cloud platform. This flexibility is particularly valuable for organizations with regulatory constraints that prevent them from fully migrating to the cloud. By leveraging cloud-based recovery, organizations can lower costs, maximize availability, and benefit from enhanced security features provided by cloud providers like Microsoft. For example, you can eliminate the server and operating system (OS) costs of hosting an application as well as the hardware cost to potentially upgrade that hardware over time.

Empowering IT teams

One of the significant advantages of Disaster Recovery for Identity is the elimination of reliance on multiple teams for recovery. In complex enterprise environments, recovery often requires coordination between storage, hardware, and security teams. Disaster Recovery for Identity empowers teams to manage the entire recovery process independently, reducing complexity and improving efficiency.

Real-world example: The Maersk attack

A notable example of the challenges faced during recovery is the Maersk attack in 2017. The global shipping giant had to fly a team member to Ghana to retrieve an offline Active Directory server that was unaffected by the attack. With Disaster Recovery for Identity, such drastic measures are unnecessary, as the solution allows for centralized control and recovery from any location.

Comprehensive protection with a single pane of glass

Modern disaster recovery solutions should provide a single pane of glass for managing the entire recovery process, from pre-incident risk identification and protection, to post-incident response and recovery. Quest’s comprehensive portfolio approach aligns with frameworks like the NIST CSF, covering all pillars: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover, and Govern. By elevating team efficiency and expertise, Disaster Recovery for Identity addresses the skill shortage and enhances overall organizational resilience.

Built on the Quest unified identity cloud platform

Disaster Recovery for Identity is built on the Quest unified identity cloud platform, which has migrated 100 petabytes of data to date, backed up over 37 billion Entra ID objects over a 12 month period, and helped customers reduce their identity attack surface by over 99%. The Quest unified identity cloud platform is ISO/IEC 27001, 27017 and 27018 certified and is backed by an award-winning, global support team ready to help 24/7/365. Quest simplifies identity security by equipping operators with better tools and resources, improving effectiveness while reducing the need for extensive training.

In conclusion, a SaaS-based product for disaster recovery offers significant advantages in terms of speed, efficiency, cost savings, and security. As organizations continue to navigate the complexities of digital transformation, Disaster Recovery for Identity provides a robust and flexible approach to ensuring business continuity and protecting critical infrastructure.

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