Which practice improves system availability?

• A. Encrypt data at rest
• B. Use redundant storage and backups
• C. Enforce strong passwords
• D. Implement strict access control lists

Answer: (C)

System availability is about keeping services up and accessible when users need them. The most direct way to improve availability is to add redundancy and recovery options: redundant storage ensures data remains available even if one storage device fails, and backups provide a reliable way to restore data quickly after loss or corruption. Together, these practices minimize downtime and enable faster recovery, which is the essence of high availability. Encrypting data at rest protects confidentiality, not uptime. Strong passwords and strict access controls bolster security, but they don’t directly prevent downtime from hardware failures or data loss.