Framework: NIST 800-53 Audio Course

System Recovery and Reconstitution (CP-10) ensures that after a disruption—malware outbreak, data corruption, hardware failure, or site loss—systems are restored to a known good state and returned to normal operations in a controlled, auditable manner. For exam purposes, understand that CP-10 bridges contingency plans with technical execution: recovery procedures must be preapproved, version-controlled, and mapped to specific platforms, data sets, and dependencies. The control expects you to define trusted images and gold configurations, identify authoritative data sources, and document the sequence for rebuilding services while preserving evidence when incidents are security-related. Recovery is not a blind rebuild; it is a risk-managed process that validates integrity before reintroducing systems into production. Scope extends to application tiers, databases, identity services, and network configurations, with explicit criteria for when to fail forward to alternates or roll back. CP-10 also requires coordination with change control so that reconstituted systems align with current baselines rather than reintroducing obsolete settings or unpatched software.

Operationally, mature programs operationalize CP-10 through automation and rehearsed runbooks. Orchestrated workflows provision clean infrastructure, hydrate applications from signed artifacts, restore data from validated backups, and perform post-restore checks—hash comparisons, configuration compliance scans, and functional smoke tests—before lifting traffic. Where forensic preservation is required, parallel recovery paths rebuild capability while investigators maintain custody of compromised assets. Evidence includes recovery task logs, verification artifacts, approvals to place systems back in service, and reconciliation records showing that CM-2 baselines and CM-6 settings match production. Metrics such as recovery time actuals versus RTO, data loss compared to RPO, defect escape rate after reconstitution, and number of configuration drifts detected post-restore indicate effectiveness. Common pitfalls include restoring malware-laden snapshots, skipping identity or certificate rekeying, neglecting DNS/route updates, and failing to reenable monitoring. Mastery of CP-10 demonstrates the ability to restore securely, quickly, and verifiably, turning disruption into a controlled engineering exercise instead of an improvised scramble.
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