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BCD-03: Operational Resilience Capabilities

BCD 5 — Medium Protect

Mechanisms exist to ensure capabilities are implemented to provide operational resilience to: (1) Unintentional errors; and (2) Intentional attack or circumvention.

Renumbered: Formerly SEA-01.3 in SCF 2025.4.

Code reused: In SCF 2025.4 and earlier, BCD-03 was Contingency Training. That control is now BCD-09.

Control Question: Does the organization ensure capabilities are implemented to provide operational resilience to: (1) Unintentional errors; and (2) Intentional attack or circumvention?

General (2)
Framework Mapping Values
CR CMM 2026 CR4.3.1
CSA CCM 4.1.0 DCS-18
US (2)
Framework Mapping Values
USA Federal C2M2 2.1 ARCHITECTURE-1j
USA Federal CERT RMM 1.2 EC:SG2.SP1 KIM:SG2.SP1 RRD:SG1 RRD:SG1.SP1 RRD:SG2 RRD:SG2.SP1 RRD:SG2.SP2 RRD:SG3 RRD:SG3.SP1 RRD:SG3.SP2 RRD:SG3.SP3 RRD:GG2 RRD:GG2.GP2 RRM:SG1 RRM:SG1.SP1 RRM:SG1.SP2 RRM:SG1.SP3 RRM:SG1.SP4 RRM:SG1.SP5 RRM:GG2 RRM:GG2.GP2 RTSE:SG3.SP1 RTSE:SG3.SP2 TM:SG2.SP1
EMEA (4)
Framework Mapping Values
EMEA CHE FINMA Circular 2023/1 V V-102 VII.A
EMEA UK CAF 4.0 B5 B5.b
EMEA UK CAP 1850 2020 B5
EMEA LUX CCSF 20/750 2020 3.7.1-79
APAC (1)
Framework Mapping Values
APAC Malaysia RMiT 2025 10.31 10.32 11.2 A10-B5(d) A10-B5(d)(iii)

Capability Maturity Model

Level 0 — Not Performed

Practices are non-existent, based on the inability to demonstrate an implemented and operational capability. A reasonable person would conclude the control is not being performed.

Level 1 — Performed Informally

SCR-CMM Level 1 criteria definitions are not available for this control: ▪ A reasonable person would conclude this control requires a structured process. ▪ At this level of maturity, the "ad hoc" nature of performing a capability informally would indicate the intent of the control is not met due to a lack of consistency and formality.

Level 2 — Planned & Tracked

Secure Engineering & Architecture (SEA) capabilities are requirements-driven, but are not standardized across the entity (e.g., local/regional level consistency). Capability criteria associated with this control reasonably expect the following criteria to exist: ▪ Policies and standards associated with SEA domain capabilities are formally documented and centrally-managed by the entity. ▪ Standardized Operating Procedures (SOP) associated with SEA domain capabilities are documented and maintained by process owners. ▪ IT and/or cybersecurity personnel work with business stakeholders and process owners to appropriately scope and reasonably implement cybersecurity and data protection controls associated with SEA domain capabilities to address applicable statutory, regulatory and/or contractual requirements for Technology Assets, Applications, Services and/or Data (TAASD). ▪ Secure engineering and architecture-related controls are primarily administrative and preventative in nature (e.g., policies, standards and procedures & guidelines). ▪ Secure engineering and architecture management may be a defined function (e.g., team or department) or assigned as an additional duty to existing IT and/or cybersecurity personnel. ▪ IT and/or cybersecurity personnel define entity-specific secure engineering practices to protect the Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability and Safety (CIAS) of the entity's TAASD. ▪ IT and/or cybersecurity personnel align secure engineering practices with the entity's broader IT architecture practices. ▪ IT and/or cybersecurity personnel use secure engineering practices to influence Secure Baseline Configurations (SBC).

Level 3 — Well Defined

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCD) capabilities are standardized across the entity for applicability to People, Processes, Technologies, Data and/or Facilities (PPTDF) to ensure consistency for Technology Assets, Applications, Services and/or Data (TAASD). Capability criteria associated with this control reasonably expect the following criteria to exist: ▪ Policies and standards associated with BCD domain capabilities are formally documented and centrally-managed by the entity's Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) team, or similar function. ▪ Standardized Operating Procedures (SOP) associated with BCD domain capabilities are well-documented and kept current by process owners. ▪ A Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) team, or similar function, is appropriately staffed and supported to implement and maintain BCD domain capabilities. ▪ Technology is leveraged to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of BC/DR operations (e.g., BC/DR planning software, Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Orchestration and Automation Tools). ▪ The entity's Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) team, or similar function, works with business stakeholders and process owners to appropriately scope and reasonably implement cybersecurity and data protection controls associated with BCD domain capabilities to address Minimum Compliance Requirements (MCR) (e.g., applicable statutory, regulatory and/or contractual requirements) and Discretionary Security Requirements (DSR) (e.g., entity-required controls). ▪ An implemented and operational capability exists to ensure security, compliance and resilience are designed and implemented to provide resistance to: (1) Unintentional errors (by users or software); and (2) Intentional attack or circumvention.

Level 4 — Quantitatively Controlled

Utilize SCR-CMM Level 3 criteria definitions: ▪ There are no defined Level 4 criteria, since it is reasonable to assume a quantitatively-controlled process is not necessary to operationalize this control. ▪ While it may be possible to develop “metrics-driven” capabilities for this control, the criteria would be organization-specific to define.

Level 5 — Continuously Improving

Utilize SCR-CMM Level 3 or Level 4 (if available) criteria definitions: ▪ There are no defined Level 5 criteria, since it is reasonable to assume a continuously-improving process is not necessary to operationalize this control. ▪ Level 5 capabilities should be considered “world-class” where the control builds on Level 4 capabilities, but are continuously improving through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or Machine Learning (ML) technologies. ▪ While it may be possible to develop responsive capabilities for this control through the use of AI and/or ML technologies, the criteria would be organization-specific to define.

Assessment Objectives

  1. BCD-03_A01 capabilities are implemented to provide operational resilience to unintentional errors.
  2. BCD-03_A02 capabilities are implemented to provide operational resilience to intentional attack or circumvention.

Evidence Requirements

E-BCD-01 Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)

Documented evidence of a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). This is program-level documentation in the form of a runbook, playbook or a similar format provides guidance on organizational practices that support existing policies and standards. This involves internal and external stakeholders for incident response, disaster recovery and business continuity support requirements.

Business Continuity

Technology Recommendations

Micro/Small

  • Cloud services with built-in redundancy
  • Regular backups and basic recovery plan

Small

  • Redundant critical services (cloud HA)
  • Backups tested for recovery
  • Basic incident and continuity plan

Medium

  • Resilience capabilities (HA, backups, failover) implemented per BIA
  • Resilience covering errors, attacks and disasters
  • Annual recovery testing

Large

  • Operational resilience program (e.g., aligned with ISO 22301)
  • HA/DR architectures for critical systems
  • Cyber resilience testing

Enterprise

  • Enterprise operational resilience program (ISO 22301, DORA) with tested capabilities for errors, cyber attacks and natural disasters
  • Resilience engineering and chaos testing
  • Cyber recovery vault

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