Technical whitepaper: Building a Secure Tertiary Data Backup (STDB) on AWS

November 2021

Financial institutions and their customers have benefited from the application of technology such as Cloud, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence, especially the way that financial services are designed, delivered, secured and assured.

These benefits from transforming with Cloud, Big Data and AI have also been seen in Hong Kong, where there is building momentum for the digital transformation of financial services with COVID-19 accelerating the adoption of new technologies, particularly for online customer engagement, remote employee working, and driving a greater focus on resilience with the altered threat landscape for financial services.

Regulators and industry associations are publishing guidance to better prepare financial institutions for cyber resilience, such as the Hong Kong Association of Bank (HKAB)’s Secure Tertiary Data Backup (STDB) Guideline. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stated that STDB is an effective measure for enhancing cyber resilience and data security of Authorised Institutions (AIs) in Hong Kong.

To help AIs with their assessment of a STDB solution on AWS, PwC and AWS have collaboratively developed this whitepaper to help AIs accelerate their journey and demonstrate the feasibility of implementing an STDB solution on AWS that satisfies all nine (9) characteristics and applicable principles of HKAB’s STDB Guideline.