The Hidden Risk of Non-Resiliency in IDaaS: What Every Organization Needs to Know

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In the rush to embrace cloud-based Identity as a Service (IDaaS) solutions, many organizations are putting too much faith in their providers, assuming disaster recovery is just “handled” under the shared responsibility model. But here’s the reality: disaster recovery isn’t always as bulletproof as you might think. While IDaaS providers are responsible for infrastructure security and uptime, that doesn’t mean your identity services will magically bounce back after a disruption.

The cloud offers flexibility, scalability, and cost savings, which is why so many organizations are moving their identity and access management (IAM) to cloud-based platforms. But relying solely on the provider’s resilience could leave your organization vulnerable when it comes to business continuity. Let’s talk about why it’s time to rethink your disaster recovery plans when it comes to IDaaS. Because you DO have a DR plan for your identity services right?

Right?

The Illusion of Resilience: What the Shared Responsibility Model Misses

The shared responsibility model is a well-known concept in cloud security: the cloud provider handles the security of the cloud, while the customer is responsible for security in the cloud. For IDaaS solutions, this usually means the provider takes care of the hardware, software updates, and overall infrastructure. In theory, that leaves you, the customer, responsible for things like access control policies, user management, and compliance configurations.

But disaster recovery falls into a gray area. Organizations often assume that because their IDaaS provider is responsible for uptime, that includes full-scale disaster recovery. However, we’ve seen too many examples where this assumption falls short. Whether it’s an unexpected outage, a natural disaster, or even a provider-specific failure, businesses can find themselves scrambling when identity services go down.

But, but, AWS never goes down….

Google AWS Outage 2020.

The Fundamentals Still Matter: Don’t Overlook Your Own Disaster Recovery

Let’s get real for a minute: disaster recovery is your problem too. Just because your IDaaS provider offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or assurances of 99.9% uptime doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You need to have a plan in place that ensures business continuity, even when your provider experiences issues.

Here are some fundamentals that every organization should revisit:

1. Backup and Redundancy: Does your IDaaS provider offer automatic backups? If so, how frequently? More importantly, do you have access to those backups if the provider experiences a widespread outage? You need to know exactly how your identity data is being stored and replicated.

2. Data Access During Downtime: Can you continue business operations if your IDaaS provider is offline? Consider setting up redundant identity services that can act as a failsafe if your primary provider goes down. This might involve hybrid approaches where some identity services are on-premises or with a secondary cloud provider.

3. Disaster Recovery Testing: When was the last time you tested your disaster recovery plan, specifically with regard to your IDaaS? Many organizations focus on disaster recovery for their broader IT infrastructure, but neglect identity services. Regular testing is crucial to ensure that your identity services can be restored quickly.

4. SLAs and Incident Response: Review your provider’s SLAs closely. Does it clearly outline their disaster recovery plan? How quickly can they respond to outages, and what’s their policy on data recovery? Push for transparency—knowing your provider’s limitations will help you create a more resilient internal plan.

The Real Consequences of IDaaS Downtime

When identity services go down, so does everything else. Without access to critical authentication services, employees can’t log in, partners can’t access shared resources, and customers might be locked out of their accounts. The longer your identity services are unavailable, the greater the impact on your bottom line.

Imagine your HR team can’t access payroll data because your cloud-based SSO is down. Or worse, your IT team can’t access privileged accounts to troubleshoot a security incident. The consequences are far-reaching, and in today’s fast-paced digital world, you can’t afford the downtime.

Getting Back to Basics

The cloud isn’t going anywhere, and neither is IDaaS. But as organizations increasingly move their identity management to the cloud, they need to get back to basics when it comes to disaster recovery. Relying solely on your provider isn’t enough. You need to build your own resilience into the system.

Take the time to evaluate your current disaster recovery plan and ask yourself: if my IDaaS provider went down tomorrow, how quickly could I restore my identity services? If the answer isn’t immediate, it’s time to take action.

Disaster recovery for IDaaS isn’t just a checkbox—it’s a critical component of your overall business continuity plan. Don’t let the convenience of the cloud lull you into a false sense of security. Get proactive, get prepared, and ensure that when disaster strikes, your identity services won’t be the thing that brings your organization to a halt.