Auditors expect clear policies, repeatable processes and reliable evidence that backups run on schedule and restores work. This guide explains control objectives, the minimum evidence pack to prepare, and how to capture logs, approvals and validation results without disrupting production. It is a practical checklist, not legal advice.
What do auditors expect to see for backup and restore?
Auditors expect written policies, repeatable processes and reliable proof that your backup and restore controls operate. They look for a current policy set, a clear scope register, schedules and retention plans, sample backup and restore logs, restore‑drill results that validate Recovery Point Objective, RPO, and Recovery Time Objective, RTO, and evidence of access reviews and approvals.
Who should use this audit evidence checklist and how should it be applied?
Executives, operations and IT owners, and functional managers should use this checklist together. Agree definitions with Compliance, assess your current evidence against each section and run a small restore drill to test your logging and approvals. File the results, then refine policies and runbooks to close any gaps.
Which definitions matter for audits, and why do they reduce risk?
Recovery Point Objective, RPO, defines the maximum acceptable data loss window between backups. Recovery Time Objective, RTO, defines the maximum acceptable time to restore operations. A point in time restore returns data, assets and settings to a specific timestamp. A targeted restore limits scope to selected records, objects or configuration. Segregation of duties separates roles so no single person can request, approve and execute a production restore. Clear definitions align teams and prevent confusion during audits or incidents.
What control objectives must your backup and restore process meet?
Backups must run on a defined cadence, be retained according to policy and be encrypted. Restores must be tested regularly with results recorded and lessons learned captured. Access must be least privilege and production restores must require multi person approval. Logs must be complete, tamper evident and retained for the required period. Changes must be controlled with tickets, approvals and post incident reviews.
What is the minimum audit evidence pack you should prepare?
You should prepare a compact, consistent pack:
- Policies and procedures, including backup, restore, change control and incident response.
- Asset and scope register, listing systems, objects and assets covered by backup and restore.
- Backup schedules and retention plan, including cadence, retention windows, storage locations and encryption approach.
- Sample backup logs, including success and failure cases with timestamps and job identifiers.
- Sample restore logs, including request, approvals, scope, start and end times, validation results and sign‑off.
- Restore drill records, including the scenario, acceptance tests, measured RPO and RTO, outcomes and improvements.
- Access controls, including roles, permissions, a segregation of duties matrix and periodic access reviews.
- Data handling evidence, including storage regions, encryption details and deletion processes aligned to UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
What backup log fields should you capture to satisfy audit?
A backup log should capture: timestamp, unique job identifier, source and destination, scope covered and version or snapshot ID, retention class applied, success or failure status with error details if any, integrity checks such as hash or verification results, item counts, storage region and encryption state with a key reference if applicable. Consistent fields allow auditors to verify scope, timing and success quickly.
What restore log fields should you capture to satisfy audit?
A restore log should capture: the trigger and scope with an incident or drill reference, the targeted timestamp, the objects and assets included, approvals with named approver and change ticket reference, start and end times, the backup or snapshot ID used, items restored, validation results for data accuracy, relationships and automations, a brief business user confirmation, the outcome and sign‑off, and lessons learned. This creates a clear chain of custody.
How should approvals and segregation of duties be implemented and evidenced?
Define requester, approver, implementer and validator roles and use role based access control, RBAC, to enforce least privilege. Require two people for any production restore, and record emergency procedures with retrospective approval where policy allows. Link every restore to a change ticket that states scope, risk and rollback plan. Ask Internal Audit to sample approvals and exceptions monthly and file the results.
How should retention, storage region and encryption be documented?
Document a retention schedule by data class and system for backups and logs. State storage locations and regions, encryption in transit and at rest, and who manages keys. Define deletion and destruction procedures for end‑of‑life backups and keep evidence of secure disposal. Store logs and evidence where only administrators can write and where changes are tamper evident so chain of custody is clear.
What evidence should you keep for restore drills and live incidents?
For drills, keep a pack with the scenario, objectives, timestamp, scope, acceptance tests, results, sign‑off and improvements. For incidents, keep a pack with root cause, restore steps, timelines, communications, corrective actions and owners. Record the backup timestamp used, the measured restore duration and whether you met your RPO and RTO. File all items under the change ticket.
How do you address data protection and privacy requirements in your audit pack?
Explain your lawful basis and minimisation approach for backups. Describe how subject deletion requests are handled when backups exist, for example selective purge jobs or time bound retention. Record storage regions and safeguards for cross border transfers. Maintain current Data Processing Agreements, DPAs, and a list of sub processors. These items help demonstrate alignment with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Which runbooks and templates standardise proof for audits?
Standardise with a backup job checklist, a restore runbook with pre‑checks, execution steps, validation and re‑enablement order, a validation matrix that lists data, relationship, automation and user checks, a simple approval form that records requester, scope, risk, rollback plan, approver and timestamp, and an audit evidence index that shows where logs, screenshots and reports are stored.
Which tooling features make passing audits easier?
Useful features include immutable or tamper evident logs with reliable time synchronisation, unique job and restore identifiers that are easy to search, role-based access control with audit logs for permission changes, and connectors or APIs to push evidence into your governance portal or Security Information and Event Management, SIEM, system. These reduce manual effort and make reviews faster.
How can a HubSpot‑specific backup with restore help you pass audits?
A HubSpot‑specific solution captures data, assets and settings with change tracking linked to HubSpot objects. It offers targeted, bulk and point in time restore with clear scope and timestamps, and enforces role based approvals with built in logging. Native HubSpot features help with small fixes. A dedicated HubSpot‑aware solution, such as backHUB, supports auditable recovery for larger incidents where breadth and evidence are required.
What common audit pitfalls occur and how do you avoid them?
Common pitfalls include incomplete logs, missing approvals, manual edits to evidence, unclear scope and no business validation. Avoid them by standardising log fields and automating capture, enforcing approval gates in tooling and change tickets, storing evidence in a tamper evident location, defining objects and timestamps before execution and including a short user check in every runbook.
What is the quick audit‑readiness checklist to review quarterly?
Use this brief list each quarter: policies approved and current; roles and access documented and reviewed; backup schedule and retention verified against policy; two recent backup logs and one restore log available on request; one drill completed with measured RPO and RTO; evidence index updated and stored centrally with clear ownership.
How do you prepare an audit evidence pack step by step?
Follow this nine‑step sequence and record the time taken for each action.
- Define targets, agree RPO and RTO with owners and write success criteria.
- Compile policy and scope registers, confirm what systems, objects and assets are in scope.
- Export two recent backup logs, one success and one failure, with identifiers and timestamps.
- Run a small restore drill and capture the full restore log.
- Collect validation results and one short business user confirmation.
- Attach access reviews and the segregation of duties matrix.
- Add storage region, encryption and key management statements with screenshots or reports.
- Index all artefacts in a shared location and record who owns updates.
- Schedule a quarterly review and file lessons learned and runbook changes.
FAQs
What backup and restore evidence do auditors need?
Auditors need policies, scope registers, schedules, sample backup and restore logs, restore‑drill results with RPO and RTO, approvals and access reviews, storage region and encryption details, and a change ticket that links each restore to scope and sign‑off. Keep these items indexed and easy to retrieve.
What log fields should backup jobs include?
Backup logs should include timestamp, unique job identifier, source and destination, scope, version or snapshot ID, retention class, success or failure status with error details, integrity check results, item counts, storage region and encryption state. Consistent fields speed up audit reviews.
How do we show segregation of duties in a small team?
Define requester, approver, implementer and validator roles in tooling, require two people for production restores, link each restore to a formal change ticket and run a monthly sample review with Internal Audit. Time bound elevation and least privilege reduce risk.
How often should we run restore drills to satisfy auditors?
Quarterly is a common baseline. You should also run a drill after significant schema, workflow or integration changes, and after any major incident. File the results with timings against RPO and RTO targets, and include improvements and owners.
