<aside> <img src="/icons/cursor-click_gray.svg" alt="/icons/cursor-click_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Availability ensures that information, systems, and resources are accessible and operational when needed by authorized users.

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For Cybersecurity Professionals, availability is valuable since it can help with the following:

• Ensuring Business Continuity
• Maintaining Customer Trust
• Upholding an Organization’s Reputation

To overcome the challenges associated with maintaining availability, the best strategy is to use redundancy in your systems and network designs

• Redundancy
  • Duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the intention of enhancing its reliability
• Server Redundancy
  • Involves using multiple servers in a load balanced or failover configuration so that if one is overloaded or fails, the other servers can take over the load to continue supporting your end users
• Data Redundancy
  • Involves storing data in multiple places
• Network Redundancy
  • Ensures that if one network path fails, the path can travel through another route
• Power Redundancy
  • Involves using backup power sources, like generators and UPS systems