Which backup verification method should Karen avoid to ensure her organization's backups are reliable?

The method that Karen should avoid is MTD verification, which stands for Maximum Tolerable Downtime verification. This approach assesses how long an organization can tolerate a service outage for a specific system or service before significant impacts occur. While understanding the MTD is important for business continuity planning, it does not directly verify the integrity or reliability of backups themselves.

In contrast, the other methods listed focus directly on validating backups. Test restoration involves restoring backups and checking their functionality, which is a critical step to ensure backups are usable in the event of data loss. Regular auditing entails systematically reviewing backup procedures, schedules, and retention policies to ensure compliance and effectiveness, while an incremental backup check assesses the integrity of incremental backups made since the last full backup.

In essence, while MTD verification is valuable for understanding downtime implications, it does not fulfill the essential need for confirming the actual functionality or reliability of backup systems. This makes it less suitable for Karen's goal of ensuring her organization's backups are dependable.