CSE conducts successful planned live disaster recovery exercise

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) conducted a successful planned live disaster recovery testing exercise at 11:30a.m. and recovered successfully at the Disaster Recovery site at 12:30p.m. on 25 November 2016, where all trading activities and Central Depository Services (CDS) operations were switched over to the remote site during trading hours within the Recovery Time Objective (RTO). 

The failover during trading hours to the Disaster Recovery site is an exercise that was carried out to demonstrate the robustness of system infrastructure and the preparedness of the CSE and all market participants in the event of a catastrophic incident. This is the first occasion that the CSE has carried out a planned failover to the Disaster Recovery site during trading hours.

The successful exercise indicates that the CSE’s and Industry’s Business Continuity process is dynamic and that the disaster recovery facility is fully functional and operational and is capable of carrying out all system critical processes within the span of a few hours following a disaster. The disaster recovery exercise is expected to be carried out annually, to ensure the continued maintenance of the expected standard.

The CSE has made a concentrated effort to enhance its processes and technology in order to ensure a smooth transition to a disaster recovery site and a retransfer of operations from the World Trade Centre premises. In 2013 the CSE implemented an advanced Disaster Recovery Solution of the Automated Trading System with an objective of achieving the desired level of Recovery Time Objective (RTO) envisaged by the business. Corresponding to this activity the CSE continuously upgraded and invested in the latest technology infrastructure in areas such as the wide area network and data center infrastructure to be more robust and resilient.

The exercise was an industry-wide activity with the participation of all stakeholders, and tested the preparedness of all participants to meet the recovery needs of the industry. Furthermore, all mission critical staff operated from the disaster recovery site and functional market activities, such as the publishing of market announcements and end of day data processing, took place from this site. In 2014, the CSE obtained three International Standard Organization (ISO) certifications in the areas of Information Security (ISO 27001), Business Continuity Management System (ISO 22301) covering Trading, Registry and Depository services, and IT Service Management (ISO 20000) which demonstrates CSE’s commitment to improve its internal processes aligning to world class standards.  CSE’s Business Continuity Processes therein conform to the Business Continuity Management System (ISO 22301) standard.

Commenting on the exercise, CSE Enterprise Risk Management Assistant General Manager Mr. Lalin Paranavitana stated: “This assessment exercise was intended to test the robustness of our systems and processes to withstand any disaster and recover within a reasonable period of time and thereby identify any gaps in our business continuity plan. Our critical systems can be operational within a few hours from our disaster recovery facility. Furthermore our mission critical staff are trained to operate from this remote location.” 

“The market infrastructure of the CSE is state-of-the-art and therefore capable of withstanding any catastrophic incidents and ensuring the return to normal trading activity following a disaster. Our technical team follows a stringent process of contingency planning to ensure that all mission critical functions can operate in the event of unforeseen circumstances,” the CSE Chief Information Officer Chandrakanth Jayasinghe said.