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Business continuity, data protection, compliance, and disaster recovery are all tied to the ISO 27001 security framework. But to function effectively, you also need a backup in place. A backup policy comes into play when you need to safeguard against data loss or corruption caused by malware and ransomware attacks. Failing to have a backup policy in your business continuity plan can spell disaster for your entire organization.
Nobody wants to see this happen so we decided to create this post so you can get a better understanding of what you need to implement to best prepare for the potential of withstanding a large system or operational failure event.
If you want to implement an airtight backup policy for your security infrastructure, it’s necessary to define the framework we are working with. The ISO 27001 standard for information security is a framework helping the organization establish, implement, monitor, and review the information security practices of people, technology, and processes.
More specifically, the framework stipulates a few requirements including:
Becoming ISO 27001 certified means you are taking your data management and security processes seriously. While it will primarily be the method in which you are able to keep up with the ever-evolving threats of the day, it can also help improve relationships with current clients as well as win over new clients who can place their trust in your superior information security policies.
Getting ISO 27001 certified is just the beginning. You still need to consider what happens when your systems get disrupted by an unexpected event or disaster. In that situation, you will need to make sure your backup policies and processes are aligned with the certification standard.
Any conversation about a backup policy needs to start with risk assessments of the elements critical to keeping your organization afloat. More specifically, the data needed to be backed up is based on the impact of the loss of that data.
Figuring out what the exact information having a major impact on your organization will be the first step. For example, PII (personally identifiable information) can include a wide amount of information like social security numbers, birthdates, and financial information like credit card numbers. A leak, disruption, or general loss of this data can result in major financial and reputational consequences.
Learn more about how to Implement policies, procedures, risk assessment and monitoring
Identifying where this information lives and prioritizing these assets can help when assessing the likelihood of threats like software failures, cyber attacks like ransomware or phishing, and natural disasters exploiting one or several vulnerabilities in your current infrastructure. This can also help with business continuity / operational continuity in events such as the recent pandemic, where we saw a work-from-home remodel for most organizations.
Once you’ve managed to take stock of your critical data and the threats they are exposed to, it is time to define the backup requirements around them. These requirements need to be in line with your current business needs as well as any regulatory requirements defining the industry the organization operates within.
Take healthcare technology companies, for example. They need to have their backup processes in line with HIPAA regulations and patient confidentiality. To do this, they must map integrated policies and procedures that incorporate the requirements of ISO 27001 and HIPAA around areas of overlap within their backup policy template to protect PHI. This can easily get very complex very quickly, so if you need help from an extra pair of eyes, you should do your best to connect with an expert.
The risk assessment portion of your backup policy template will give you a more nuanced insight into what the operational needs of the organization are. Information like the acceptable level of downtime in the case of a critical loss of data and SLAs (service level agreements) can help you set up more informed backup schedules aligned with the nature of the data.
Backing up data involves creating an identical replica of the data at a specific moment, enabling restoration to that exact state if needed. More sensitive information might require more frequent backups while less critical data might be subject to less frequent backups. Make sure you update this information according to the current risk environment, which is instrumental for success.
Additionally, having a greater frequency of information backup during important business times may also be a prudent strategy business owners can employ. For example, e-commerce organizations might want to invest more heavily in large-scale backup efforts during major holiday seasons when loads are significantly higher.
Looking at your RPO (Recovery Point Objective) will determine how often data backup is needed (i.e. backup frequency). Adjusting your RPO when completing the template for different times of the year, according to the current risk landscape, can help minimize data loss in the event of a disruption.
If you normally have an RPO of 30 minutes, this means you are willing to lose at most half an hour’s worth of data in the case of an unplanned disruption. In some situations, you might want to raise the frequency to an RPO of 15 minutes meaning you backup data every quarter of an hour to meet business needs in the current context.
Additionally, DevOps teams can use version control to ensure different versions of the data are properly backed up, allowing you to easily restore previous versions if needed.
Diversifying where you keep mission-critical data can be the difference between successfully recovering from a disruption and completely failing. Implementing multiple backup copies across different parts of the entire infrastructure can help ensure the data is eventually recovered.
For example, having multiple cloud instances or an alternative remote location where critical data is stored ensures it isn’t siloed away in one spot, thus minimizing the impact of a system failure and maximizing system availability.
Disaster recovery is the critical process of restoring data from backup systems in the event of data corruption or loss due to unforeseen circumstances such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, or hardware failures. When the original data becomes corrupted, having a robust backup system in place is essential.
By accessing the backup copies, organizations can swiftly recover their data and minimize downtime, ensuring continuity of operations mitigating potential financial and reputational damages, thereby resuming normal operations with minimal disruption.
Disaster recovery plans, including comprehensive backup strategies, are indispensable components of modern business continuity efforts, providing assurance against unforeseen data crises and bolstering resilience in the face of adversity.
ISO 27001 security requirements are stringent—and for good reason; nobody wants to wake up and realize all their crucial data is in the wrong hands. That’s why encryption and authorization/authentication methods are critical elements of a security template.
Encrypting backup data can prevent unauthorized access for data transmission and storage. When you are in the process of establishing your requirements, keep in mind how sensitive the data is, what the regulatory requirements include, and some industry best practices.
Planning to use TLS (transport layer security) algorithms in conjunction with End-to-End Encryption, where data is encrypted prior to being uploaded to the cloud and only decrypted once it is on the client’s side, can ensure a high degree of security throughout the entire data backup and recovery process.
Authentication and authorization serve as the gatekeepers to some of your most sensitive information by restricting access to backup systems and data to pre-authorized stakeholders. Implementing mechanisms like training employees to use strong passwords in combination with MFA (multi-factor authentication) can be the solution to having tightly sealed data storage units.
However, even with all the security in place, it is still possible for attackers to breach external contractors having access to VPN credentials rendering your incident response team obsolete. This is specifically what happened to Uber in September 2022.
The key takeaway: A single, central point of authentication can result in access to various cloud-based systems. When coming up with your ISO 27001 backup policy template, make sure to draw provisions into this possibility and train employees to guard against suspected phishing attacks that could lead to malware and other downstream attacks that could bypass MFA protections.
A backup policy template or framework that successfully keeps your organization in good standing during an unexpected disruption should be approached as a living, breathing document changing according to the current landscape.
With a myriad of potential threats from cyber attacks, abrupt regulatory shifts, and rapidly evolving tools and technologies, thinking about a policy that works in all seasons can be paralyzing.
That’s why it’s important to emphasize evergreen backup templates for policies that are tested regularly against the major threats of the day. First, define how you test, monitor, and analyze results. Once you’ve come up with a repeatable testing process, regularly test backup logs for data integrity. This could throw off test results, causing a major issue in the event of an actual disruption.
Communication and coordination are the key hallmarks of success when developing a backup policy template. Consulting with these stakeholders is important because they have insight into where your most vulnerable elements might lie. A compliance expert in your legal department might have access to information your IT department does not. Having the two collaborate on an effective plan could make all the difference in an emergency situation.
Focusing your efforts on key decision-maker behavior in your policy template could come at a high cost to your organization. That’s why it is critical to make sure you have a built-in roadmap for how to best train employees in their roles and responsibilities. You trust them with day-to-day business activities, so it only makes sense you should trust them in emergency situations.
A backup policy template will vary from company to company depending on the required scopes matching the needs of the business. A comprehensive plan digs deep into multiple aspects of risk, backup requirements, and all the changes in the industry to create an airtight infrastructural security management system.
Additionally, keeping in mind all of the moving parts of your organization from the highest level of decision-makers to the employees responsible for running critical day-to-day functions will only help you construct a continuously evolving plan that can be stood up at a moment’s notice.
Aligning your policy documents with ISO 27001 (specifically, the business continuity management framework ISO 22301) and mapping them to the unique data requirements of your industry can be challenging. You don’t want to go at it alone. Lucky for you, Thoropass provides ISO 27001 audit preparation services. Reach out to an expert to learn more about how we can help with all of your compliance preparedness, audit, backup and recovery efforts.
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Note: This post was originally published May 22, 2024 but has since been updated and reviewed by internal SMEs.
There are many threats to your normal business operations: Those threats can include everything from a natural disaster that causes unexpected power interruptions to the ever-present threat of cyber attacks. Add to this the fact that customers expect maximum uptime from your systems, and you’ve got the recipe for a potentially difficult business environment.
But it is possible to survive and even thrive. A bulletproof BCDR (business continuity and disaster recovery) plan that defines your vulnerabilities and provides guidelines on how to minimize their effects is vital to your organization’s resilience. In this blog post, we’ll cover why BCDR is so important and the steps you can take to develop and execute one properly.
BCDR serves as a strategic shield for your business operations, protecting against known possible disasters (and anticipating otherwise unforeseen ones) and guaranteeing the uninterrupted provision of essential functions.
BCDR is also a dynamic concept, constantly evolving and expanding its focus on business resilience, particularly emphasizing operational resilience as a key organizational asset. Simply put, BCDR planning is like the roots of a tree, providing a foundation for the organization to withstand storms and continue to grow.
Building a robust BCDR framework involves:
Identifying critical business functions is essential for the continuity of your business during a disruption. These functions are the backbone of your company, necessary for maintaining operations and ensuring survival in the face of adversity. They encompass a range of resources, such as business data, skilled personnel, facilities, supplies, information technology, and relationships with goods and service providers.
Recognizing the interdependencies between these critical functions is also crucial. It’s about understanding how different areas of your business are connected and affect one another. This perspective is vital when analyzing information from the Business Impact Analysis (BIA), as it helps to consider how different areas within the organization rely on each other and share common requirements.
Setting recovery objectives involves determining the specific goals for your business’s recovery process, including:
By establishing clear recovery objectives, you ensure that your business is ready to face disruptions and can reduce the negative effects on your operations.
The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) helps you understand what you need to meet these objectives, like how much downtime is acceptable and how much data loss can be tolerated. It’s important to communicate the specifics of RPO and RTO to everyone involved in the recovery process, including IT staff and service providers.
Recovery Time Objective Your RTO or Recovery Time Objective is the maximum acceptable amount of time for restoring a network or application and regaining access to data after an unplanned disruption. An RTO is measured in terms of time to recover (seconds, minutes, hours, or days.) It is an important consideration in a disaster recovery plan (DRP).
Your RTO or Recovery Time Objective is the maximum acceptable amount of time for restoring a network or application and regaining access to data after an unplanned disruption.
An RTO is measured in terms of time to recover (seconds, minutes, hours, or days.) It is an important consideration in a disaster recovery plan (DRP).
Maximum Tolerable Downtime MTD or Maximum Tolerable Downtime is the total amount of time the organization can accept for a system/process outage or disruption and includes all impact considerations. Loss of revenue and the extent to which a disrupted process impacts business continuity can both have an impact on MTD. It can be calculated by adding up the total amount of time it takes to successfully execute each step to bring the business back and recover from a disaster. Since each of these steps needs to be adjusted properly and requires the specific tools and the right permissions, it can take some time to configure ahead of time.
MTD or Maximum Tolerable Downtime is the total amount of time the organization can accept for a system/process outage or disruption and includes all impact considerations. Loss of revenue and the extent to which a disrupted process impacts business continuity can both have an impact on MTD. It can be calculated by adding up the total amount of time it takes to successfully execute each step to bring the business back and recover from a disaster. Since each of these steps needs to be adjusted properly and requires the specific tools and the right permissions, it can take some time to configure ahead of time.
Steps can include:
For example, if an outage occurs at midnight and it takes until 6:00 am to complete each step to become fully operational again, the recovery time is six hours. Comparing this length of time to existing service level agreements (SLAs) will allow the organization to see if its processes and efforts are efficient or need to be improved.
Recovery Point Objective Your RPO, on the other hand, is the maximum amount of data loss after a disruption that your organization can manage before data loss is simply irrecoverable. This metric tells you how resilient your organization would be against a cyberattack that breaches sensitive information. It is expressed as the amount of time that you have to recover data. For example, if a backup occurs at noon, 12:30 pm, and 1:00 pm, your RPO is set at 30 minutes. A backup occurs every 30 minutes, and any data lost within the half-hour time frame is manageable.
While it is good to calculate your RTO and RPO ahead of time, you will want to put your infrastructure through some stress tests to determine whether or not it is equipped to handle a sudden, unexpected event. This can involve on-site and off-site data centers as well as a number of different kinds of backups, including full backups, incremental backups, and differential backups.
While both Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery are essential components of a disaster recovery business continuity plan, they each have their unique focus within the broader scope of business continuity disaster recovery (BCDR).
Think of it like the two sides of the same coin. Business continuity planning ensures that critical business operations such as operational procedures, staffing, and supply chain management can continue during and immediately after a disruptive event. Incorporating business continuity plans into your organization’s strategy is crucial for maintaining continuous business operations and resilience in the face of unforeseen challenges.
On the other side of the coin, disaster recovery focuses on the restoration of IT systems and data after a disruption. It’s like the medical team that rushes in to perform the necessary procedures to restore normalcy after a health crisis.
Your organization’s risk management strategy should seamlessly blend both business continuity and disaster recovery plans, including disaster recovery strategies, due to their complementary nature and collective effectiveness.
Every BCDR plan undergoes a lifecycle, necessitating constant updates, frequent risk reassessment, testing, and audits to verify its effectiveness and relevance to the organization’s changing needs.
Within BCDR, audits (more commonly referred to as tests) are essential for checking the effectiveness of business continuity management. Regular tests of the business continuity plan (BCP) make sure that all parts of the plan work as they should and meet the company’s standards.
Tests offer clear feedback and suggest improvements. Companies can choose to use their own staff for testing, as they know the business well, or bring in outside testers for an unbiased view. Decisions about who conducts the test, the extent of the test, and how the plan is kept up to date are important for making sure the test is useful.
The effectiveness of a BCDR plan relies not only on the outlined strategies but also on the personnel tasked with implementing these strategies. Comprehensive training programs to clarify each employee’s responsibilities during disaster events are integral to successful BCDR strategies.
But it’s not just about training; it’s also about empowering your recovery personnel. Engaging team members in business continuity education and certification programs equips them with best practices knowledge to implement BCDR strategies. Furthermore, maintaining frequent communication about BCDR training reinforces its significance and encourages stakeholder engagement.
A fundamental aspect of BCDR planning is forestalling catastrophic damage to your business resulting from natural disasters. Implementing preventative measures, such as hardware and software redundancy, can help prevent outages and data loss during disaster events. Ensuring data protection is also a crucial part of these measures.
Additionally, securing against data breaches and utilizing backup solutions, such as cloud services, are key preventive strategies in BCDR planning. New technologies, including cloud computing and AI, present opportunities for better disaster preparedness, while observing industry best practices for data management helps maintain alignment with these advancements.
BCDR planning presents its own set of challenges. However, these obstacles can be overcome with strategic planning and prudent decision-making. Identifying and prioritizing essential expenses, and focusing on critical resources crucial for recovery operations, can help overcome budget constraints in BCDR planning.
Moreover, maintaining detailed records of BCDR-related expenditures is critical for regular monitoring and optimization of expenses. Implementing a change control process ensures that alterations to the BCDR plan are necessary and managed effectively to minimize cost impact.
In the current digital age, technology significantly contributes to the enhancement of BCDR. Adopting cloud-based services can increase data availability, allowing for quick failover if one data center goes down, thereby supporting scaling according to need.
Furthermore, Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) provides a comprehensive recovery solution, while Cloud Backup ensures data backup and fast restores to maintain operations. For instance, Gaille Media, during Hurricane Harvey, leveraged cloud storage and remote work capabilities to keep their operations uninterrupted.
If you aren’t sure what steps to take, speak to an expert on how you can get started today.
A meticulously designed BCDR plan is not a standalone entity but a strategic instrument that aligns with the organization’s overarching objectives. Informed BCDR investment decisions can be aided by estimates from business leaders across corporate disciplines regarding the expected costs of disparate types of disruptive events.
Moreover, service-level agreements (SLAs) in a BCDR plan set quality standards for recovery services, ensuring they meet predefined performance criteria. Thus, aligning BCDR with organizational goals ensures that the continuity strategy supports the overarching mission and vision of the organization.
Regulatory compliance is a key component in BCDR. Compliance with standards like ISO guides the formulation of BCDR strategies, guaranteeing alignment with industry best practices.
Furthermore, understanding regulatory requirements for critical business functions is crucial as some functions may need to be prioritized to fulfill these standards. Audit frameworks like ISO provide structured methodologies for businesses to validate their continuity plans against recognized industry practices and controls.
BCDR planning is a strategic linchpin for any organization, ensuring business continuity and resilience in the face of unforeseen disruptions.
From identifying critical business functions, setting recovery objectives, leveraging technology, and aligning with organizational goals, each aspect of BCDR plays a crucial role in safeguarding business operations. With proactive planning, diligent execution, and regular audits, BCDR ensures that your organization stands resilient in the face of adversity.
Note: This article was originally published on May 17, 2023, and updated on March 14, 2024, which included optimization and SME reviews.
BCDR stands for “business continuity and disaster recovery,” and it refers to a set of practices that help an organization continue or recover business operations in the event of a disaster.
BCP stands for Business Continuity Plan, which is a document outlining how a business will continue operating during an unplanned disruption in service. It includes a plan for workspaces, telephones, workstations, servers, applications, network connections, and any other resources required in the business process.
DRP stands for Disaster Recovery Plan, which is a document outlining how a business restores platforms, systems, and/or data during an emergency event. It includes a step-by-step plan to recover technical systems back to their original state.
BCDR is significant as it safeguards business operations against disasters, ensuring the continuity of essential functions and enhancing business resilience.
Recovery objectives, such as RTO and RPO, are established in BCDR planning by considering factors like downtime impact, financial costs, regulatory requirements, and service level agreements.
Technology enhances BCDR by decentralizing data storage, increasing availability, reducing the impact of service disruption attacks, and eliminating the need for expensive physical mirror sites. This allows for more efficient and effective business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
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The Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is a critical tool designed to help organizations identify and address potential disruptions before they wreak havoc. Think of a BIA as a framework for evaluating the potential effects of disruptions on your business operations.
It examines how hiccups might impact your essential business processes, resources, and recovery strategies, while the business impact analysis report serves as the key outcome of the BIA process. One way to gather the necessary information for a BIA is through a business impact analysis questionnaire.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the ins and outs of BIA, its importance, and how to effectively conduct one to ensure your business remains resilient and prepared for the unexpected.
The BIA delves into your organization’s vital components, such as the apps supporting critical business processes, interconnected systems, and potential breakdowns, revealing the possible effects of a disaster on your business functions over time. This crucial insight enables you to establish plans, priorities, and timelines for recovery while considering factors like lost sales, delayed income, increased expenses, and regulatory fines.
The rationale behind businesses allocating time and resources to conduct a BIA is straightforward: it fosters preparedness, reduces risk, and safeguards business continuity. When organizations comprehend the operational and financial impacts of disruptions, they are better positioned to identify and prioritize their essential business functions and resources and set suitable recovery timelines.
Moreover, a comprehensive BIA helps businesses determine the human and technology resources needed for recovery. This proactive approach enables organizations to stay ahead of potential emergencies and minimize risks, ensuring they can continue operating effectively even in the face of unforeseen challenges.
Despite their similarities, BIA, risk assessment, and disaster recovery planning each serve unique roles in protecting your business. Here’s how they differ:
Disaster recovery planning, on the other hand, is all about restoring systems and data after a disruption. Thus, BIA plays a crucial role in informing the senior management’s decision-making process, ensuring that appropriate recovery strategies are implemented across all levels of the organization.
While every business is unique and needs its own unique analysis, there are some common examples of business disruptions, including:
Effective mitigation strategies involve careful planning, prioritization, and implementation of appropriate measures. By anticipating potential disruption scenarios and developing targeted response plans, your organization can minimize the consequences of these events and maintain business continuity. Remember, the key to resilience is being prepared to face any challenge that comes your way.
Developing a BIA template is essential for streamlining the analysis process and ensuring a comprehensive approach. A typical template includes components such as:
These components enable businesses to thoroughly evaluate the potential impacts of disruptions on their operations and identify the necessary steps for recovery. Creating an effective disaster recovery plan (DRP, sometimes referred to as a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan, based on the BIA template equips organizations to handle any arising challenges and lessen the impact of unforeseen events.
Are you prepared to embark on the BIA process? This guide will lead you through the stages of:
Let’s break down each of these steps in more detail.
To kick off the BIA process, you’ll need to assemble a diverse project team with representatives from various departments, such as:
Each team member will play a crucial role in providing relevant information and insights, ensuring a comprehensive approach to the analysis.
For instance, when a multidisciplinary team of experts collaborates, your organization can more effectively pinpoint and manage potential risks and vulnerabilities. Each department brings its own expertise and perspective to the table. For example:
By working together, these departments can create a comprehensive risk management strategy that covers all aspects of your organization’s operations.
Once you’ve got a project team in place, it’s time to collect information about your critical business processes and potential impacts. This is typically done through interviews, questionnaires, and consultations with stakeholders.
Sample questionnaire questions For instance, your questionnaire might include questions such as: What are the key business processes in your department? What resources (people, systems, other assets) are required to perform these processes? How long can your department function without these processes? What would be the impact on the company if these processes were disrupted? Are there any dependencies between these processes and others within the company? What are the potential risks that could disrupt these processes? What recovery strategies are currently in place?
For instance, your questionnaire might include questions such as:
During this process, you’ll inventory the important business processes, resources, and dependencies, ensuring that your BIA is comprehensive and thorough.
In addition to gathering quantitative data, it’s essential to conduct qualitative interviews with individuals who possess detailed knowledge of your organization’s processes and operations.
Once you’ve collected the necessary data, the next step is to review and analyze it to:
This process involves assessing the potential risks and issues that could affect your business, allowing you to make informed decisions about the most effective recovery strategies.
A meticulous examination of the collected data provides a clear understanding of the possible financial and operational impacts of disruptions on your organization. This knowledge will enable you to develop targeted recovery plans that address the specific needs of your business, ensuring that you are well-prepared for any challenges that may arise.
With your findings and analysis at hand, the next step is to draft a comprehensive BIA report documenting potential impacts, recovery strategies, and recommendations.
This report serves as the key outcome of the BIA process and provides valuable information to guide your organization’s decision-making. The BIA report should include an overview of key activities, requirements, and risks, as well as suggestions for risk treatment.
By presenting this information to senior management, you can ensure that your organization is equipped with the necessary knowledge and resources to effectively address potential disruptions and maintain business continuity.
Upon completion of the BIA report, the final step is to implement its recommendations.
This process involves developing a plan, allocating resources, and monitoring progress to ensure that your organization successfully implements the recommended recovery strategies and mitigates potential risks.
However, while this may count as the last step, it’s important to remember that the BIA and business continuity plan are not static documents. As your organization evolves and faces new challenges, it’s crucial to regularly revisit and modify these plans to ensure they remain relevant and effective. By staying proactive and adaptive, your organization can continue to thrive in the face of uncertainty.
Technology can be a powerful ally in the BIA process and business continuity planning. Utilizing compliance operations applications and project management software can simplify the BIA process and help maintain an orderly, current business continuity plan.
In addition to simplifying the BIA process, technology can also provide valuable insights and information to inform your decision-making. Some ways technology can help include:
By leveraging technology, your organization can remain prepared for any disruptions that may arise.
Frequent review and updating of your BIA and business continuity plan are vital in keeping them relevant and effective in addressing your organization’s changing needs and risks. By staying current with industry trends, regulatory requirements, and emerging threats, you can ensure that your plans continue to provide the necessary protection and guidance.
Don’t wait for a disruption to strike before realizing the importance of maintaining an up-to-date BIA and business continuity plan. By proactively addressing potential risks and challenges, you can ensure that your organization remains resilient in the face of uncertainty and continues to thrive in a dynamic and competitive landscape.
Conducting a thorough Business Impact Analysis is an essential step in ensuring the resilience and continuity of your organization.
By understanding the potential impacts of disruptions on your critical business operations, assembling a diverse project team, and implementing recommended recovery strategies, your organization can effectively minimize risks and maintain business continuity in the face of uncertainty. Don’t leave your organization’s future to chance; take control by proactively investing in a comprehensive BIA and business continuity plan.
A BIA is an essential part of risk management, with its three primary goals being the identification, assessment, and response of potential disruptions. It allows organizations to measure the impact of disruptions on their operations, allowing them to prepare and respond appropriately.
A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) outlines the steps to take in case of an outage, while a BIA identifies the risks that could cause it and which business functions are most critical to prioritize for recovery.
A BIA template includes process description, priority ranking, impact category, inputs/outputs, resources/tools, process users, loss description/amount, recovery timeline, and strategy, helping organizations prepare for potential business disruption.
Businesses should be prepared for disruption scenarios such as accidents, machine malfunctions, cyberattacks, and natural disasters.
Note: This post was originally published on May 15, 2023, and has since been reviewed by internal subject matter experts and updated
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“In banking or finance, trust is the only thing you have to sell.” Patrick Dixon
“In banking or finance, trust is the only thing you have to sell.”
Banking and finance is a key part of the modern economy, and ensuring the stability of financial institutions is paramount. But how do banks maintain their operations during unforeseen disruptions and crises?
The answer is robust Business Continuity Planning (BCP).
If you’re in banking or finance, you’ll know BCP is a critical component of any bank’s risk management strategy, and its importance cannot be overstated. In this post, we delve into the world of BCP in banking, highlighting its role and key components.
Business Continuity Planning is a proactive process designed to anticipate potential threats, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. The BCP process bolsters a bank’s resilience during crises. It aims to reduce losses and maintain business operations despite disruptions.
Imagine a scenario where a major natural disaster or cyber attack impacts your bank’s operations, and you have no plan in place. The consequences could be dire, leading to financial loss, reputational damage, and regulatory non-compliance.
Banking’s BCP encompasses having an established plan, adhering to regulatory standards, and stabilizing financial markets. It encompasses a broader scope than Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) or Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan, which focuses solely on the technical aspects of recovering IT infrastructure and systems.
At its core, a thorough BCP in banking:
Banks are required to have a comprehensive BCP in place to address potential disruptions and ensure compliance with industry standards. This includes adhering to the ISO 22301:2019 standard, the global benchmark for business continuity management.
Adherence to these regulatory standards allows banks to show dedication to sustaining operations, customer service, and financial asset protection during disasters.
The modern financial system is a complex web of interconnected market participants and infrastructure service providers, including financial institutions such as:
As a result, the stability of the entire financial system hinges on the ability of each participant to maintain their operations during disruptions.
In this context, BCP in banking must consider the interconnectedness of financial market participants and infrastructure service providers to minimize systemic risks.
To develop a thorough BCP, banks need to gauge the prospective impacts of disruptions on the market, along with the geographic interdependencies that shape contemporary local, national, and global banking networks. This way, their BCP can tackle the distinct challenges presented by this interlinked financial environment, allowing them to persistently serve their customers and stabilize financial markets amidst considerable disruptions.
A significant business disruption can take many forms. Banks must address specific disruptions, such as natural disasters, cyber attacks, and pandemics, in their BCPs to ensure comprehensive coverage and preparedness. By considering these unique challenges, banks can develop targeted strategies and solutions that address the specific risks and vulnerabilities posed by each type of disruption.
The frequency and intensity of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, floods, etc.) are on the rise. While these pose a significant risk to habitat and humanity, they also cause significant disruptions to business operations, including banking. Banks, therefore, require contingency plans for physical damage, power outages, and disruptions to transportation and communication networks.
Banks can also use financial products, such as insurance, to address the financial risks of natural disasters. By having comprehensive plans in place to address the unique challenges posed by natural disasters, banks can minimize the impact on their customers and ensure the stability of the financial system during such events.
Cyber attacks and technological failures also pose significant threats to banks, as they can lead to data breaches, system outages, and financial loss. According to the IMF:
“The financial sector is particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These institutions are attractive targets because of their crucial role in intermediating funds. A successful cyber-attack on one institution could spread rapidly through the highly interconnected financial system.”
To address these threats, banks must implement robust cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls, encryption software, and endpoint protection, to safeguard their IT infrastructure and systems from malicious actors.
In addition to cybersecurity measures, banks must also invest in data backup and recovery solutions to ensure the availability of their data and systems in the event of a cyber attack or technological failure. These solutions, coupled with comprehensive incident response plans, can help banks minimize the impact of cyber-attacks and technological failures on their operations and customers.
Pandemics (such as the COVID-19 outbreak) present unique challenges for banks, as they can lead to staff inaccessibility, remote work requirements, and health and safety concerns. To address these challenges, banks must establish plans for remote work, alternative staffing arrangements, and health and safety protocols to ensure the well-being of their employees and customers during such events.
Prioritizing employee well-being and safety allows banks to:
Business Continuity Planning is an important element of ISO 27001 compliance. Find out what it looks like for your organization.
So, how do you stay ahead of these disruptions? A well-rounded bank’s BCP consists of three key components:
Each component plays a crucial role in ensuring the bank’s ability to withstand disruptions and continue providing essential services to its customers. Let’s look at each in more detail.
Risk assessment and management is the first step in developing a comprehensive BCP for banks. It involves:
An efficient risk management process also requires frequent BCP updates to accommodate changes in the bank’s operations, threat scenarios, and audit suggestions. Continuous risk assessment and management allow banks to:
Technical recovery solutions focus on the restoration of IT infrastructure and systems during a disruption, ensuring the continuity of critical functions and contributing to business recovery. In today’s digital age, the resilience of a bank’s IT systems is of utmost importance, as even minor disruptions can have far-reaching consequences for the bank’s operations and customers.
To address this challenge, banks must invest in robust technical recovery solutions. These solutions not only help banks restore their core systems and data following a disruption but also provide the necessary tools for monitoring and managing their IT infrastructure, ensuring the highest level of resilience and preparedness.
Human resources and employee training are essential components of a bank’s BCP, as they ensure that employees are aware of their roles and responsibilities during a disruption and can effectively execute the plan. Training should incorporate emergency response drills, BCP procedure overviews, and periodic plan reviews to keep employees current and conversant with the processes.
Moreover, banks must invest in the well-being and safety of their employees, as they are the backbone of the organization. By providing access to mental health support, flexible work options, and clear health and safety guidelines, banks can create a supportive work environment that enables employees to perform at their best during disruptions and emergencies.
Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is an important aspect of BCP in banking, as it helps banks identify critical functions, assess the potential impact of disruptions, and set recovery time objectives to prioritize resources and efforts.
Executing an exhaustive BIA provides banks with valuable insights into their operations and weaknesses, which aids in the development of targeted recovery strategies and disruption impact minimization on customers and the financial system.
Critical business functions in banks (e.g., transaction processing or customer account services) are those that would have a disastrous effect on stakeholders or the bank if they were to fail.
Identifying these functions is crucial for determining which processes and systems must be prioritized for recovery during a disruption.
Concentrating on the most critical operation aspects enables banks to allocate resources and efforts effectively, thereby reducing the disruption impact on customers and financial system stability.
Recovery time objectives (RTOs) are a key component of the BIA process, as they help banks establish the maximum acceptable downtime for critical functions.
Setting RTOs involves assessing the:
Clear RTOs help banks steer recovery strategy development and ensure their readiness to handle disruptions promptly and effectively.
Examples of RTOs in banking include restoring core banking systems within 24 hours, gaining customer access within 48 hours, and resuming full operations within 72 hours. These objectives serve as benchmarks for banks to measure their progress and preparedness, helping them identify areas for improvement and adjust their BCP accordingly.
Implementing and testing a bank’s BCP is a structured process that involves regular maintenance and updates to ensure its effectiveness during a disruption. The process encompasses:
The BCP implementation process begins with the development of recovery strategies, which outline the specific actions and resources required to restore critical functions and systems following a disruption. These strategies should be based on the findings of the bank’s BIA and risk assessment, ensuring that they address the most significant threats and vulnerabilities.
Once recovery strategies have been developed, banks must assign roles and responsibilities to employees, outlining their duties during disruption and ensuring that they are trained and prepared to execute the BCP, which includes the disaster recovery plan. Establishing clear communication protocols is also essential, as it enables the bank to maintain effective coordination and information sharing during a disruption.
Regular testing and maintenance are critical to the success of a bank’s BCP, as they help identify weaknesses and areas for improvement, ensuring that the plan remains current and effective. Testing can involve various methods, including tabletop exercises, walkthroughs, and full-scale simulations. These exercises not only evaluate the plan’s viability but also assess the ability of employees and executives to handle stress and make decisions under pressure.
Alongside testing, regular BCP maintenance is vital to keep the plan updated and responsive to changes in the bank’s operations, threat scenarios, and audit suggestions. By conducting regular reviews and updates, banks can ensure that their BCP remains effective in addressing potential disruptions, thereby minimizing the impact on their customers and financial system’s stability.
By addressing potential threats, vulnerabilities, and disruptions, banks can ensure the continuity of operations, comply with regulatory requirements, and maintain the stability of financial markets.
A comprehensive BCP encompasses risk assessment and management, technical recovery solutions, human resources, and training, as well as business impact analysis to identify critical functions and set recovery time objectives. With proper planning, communication, and regular testing and maintenance, banks can be well-prepared to face any disruption and continue to serve their customers and support the financial system during challenging times.
Recommended reading
Gain comprehensive insights into ISO 27001, understand its pivotal role in enhancing data security, discover its strategic importance for business success, and learn the step-by-step path to certification.
A business continuity and disaster recovery plan will strike many business owners as a ‘nice to have’ rather than a must-have. Or you might think it’s essential for certain business functions (like IT) but less important in others (like PR, Comms, or HR teams.)
We’re here to break the news that you absolutely do need a business continuity and disaster recovery plan for your business. Not having one leaves your business vulnerable to threats — from cyber-attacks to natural disasters. It puts your revenue at risk. And, worst of all, it puts your people at risk too.
Having a good business continuity plan sets you up for enduring success. Because we all know: stuff happens. And no matter how good you think you are in a crisis, having a clear plan that outlines proactive strategies will mean you can jump straight into rapid recovery when disaster occurs rather than waste time procrastinating.
You may feel that business continuity and disaster recovery is something that businesses of a certain scale need, but that doesn’t apply to your business. Or maybe you’re just resigned to “being in hot water” if bad things happen. It’s really common for business owners to think this way. But it’s a misconception:
Every business is different, and threats can depend on the industry, location, and other factors. But these are some of the top threats to most businesses:
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and tornadoes can cause significant damage to physical infrastructure and disrupt business operations.
Cyberattacks and data breaches can result in data loss, system downtime, and reputational damage. They can also result in financial losses, regulatory fines, and legal liability.
Mistakes or errors made by employees, contractors, or vendors can result in system failures, data breaches, or other disruptions to business operations.
Disruptions in the supply chain, such as material shortages, production delays, or transportation disruptions, can impact a company’s ability to deliver products or services to customers.
Power outages can occur due to natural disasters, equipment failures, or cyberattacks, and can result in system downtime and data loss.
Pandemics and other public health emergencies can disrupt business operations by requiring employees to work remotely, disrupting supply chains, and impacting customer demand.
It’s important for organizations to identify the specific threats that are most relevant to their business and to develop appropriate plans and strategies to mitigate those risks.
A business continuity and disaster recovery plan (BCDR) is a plan that comes into effect when any event interrupts your business’s uptime. When companies have downtime, they lose money. So minimizing the impact of downtime helps ensure your business gets back on its feet quickly and minimizes lost revenue.
Many organizations have some form of BCDR on the IT side, as disaster recovery is a key function of IT systems. However, BCDR is much broader than ensuring your tech stack is stable and secure. It incorporates the following:
As such, a business continuity and disaster recovery plan is a deep plan that requires thoroughness. While it may not be possible to anticipate every possible disaster that may befall your business, it is possible to develop plans to fall back on when disasters do inevitably occur.
Now that you’re (hopefully) realizing the importance of business continuity planning, you’ll be keen to understand where to start. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed. It can be hard to know where to start developing a plan that’s broad enough to apply to a wide range of situations, from natural disasters to PR crises, but that’s specific enough to be helpful and actionable when crisis occurs.
Thankfully, the field of business continuity and disaster planning is pretty established and there are some tried-and-trusted methodologies for kicking off business continuity planning. Naturally, the first thing you want to do is assess. If you don’t know your vulnerabilities and critical areas, it’s hard to prioritize the actions you need to take should disaster arise. Taking stock of your business with a cool head will help you hone in on the most important aspects of a business plan.
Business continuity management (BCM) is the process of identifying potential threats and risks to an organization, developing plans to mitigate those risks, and ensuring that the organization is prepared to respond effectively to a crisis or disruption.
The goal of BCM is to enable an organization to continue its critical operations during and after a catastrophic event, whether that event is a natural disaster, cyber-attack, or any other unexpected occurrence that could impact the organization’s ability to function.
Ready to get going? Here’s where to start:
Part of your business continuity management process may be to conduct a Business Impact Assessment (BIA.) A BIA is used to identify and evaluate the potential impacts of disruption on critical business functions and processes.
The goal of a BIA is to identify the most important business functions and processes that you need to restore quickly after a disruption. It will also help you quantify the potential impacts of a disruption on these functions, so you will know exactly what any delay will cost your business.
During a BIA, an organization will typically identify the critical business functions and processes that are essential to its operations. If you have a larger organization you may engage your business leaders to take inventory of the personnel, technology, tools, and facilities it needs to run and to gauge the impact of downtime on each.
For example, if you run a manufacturing business, the impact of your assembly line being down for an hour can be significant – resulting in unfulfilled orders, unhappy clients, and lost revenue. In contrast, the impact of your social media scheduling tool being down may be merely annoying, but may also impact your ability to provide customer support. However, with the social example, there might be alternative channels that can serve as a backup.
For each function or process, your organization will need to identify the resources needed to support it, such as personnel, technology, and facilities. This can help you identify, for example, that only one person knows how to operate a certain system — and if anything were to happen to that person the impact to your business could be significant.
You’ll then assess and quantify the potential impacts of a disruption to these resources, such as:
The BIA is a crucial component of your business continuity plans, as it helps your organization prioritize your disaster recovery strategies and efforts and allocate resources accordingly.
By identifying the critical functions and processes that must be restored quickly following a disruption, your organization can develop recovery strategies that are targeted and effective, and minimize the impact of the disruption on its operations.
The frequency at which you should conduct a Business Impact Assessment (BIA) will depend on several factors, including your business industry, size, complexity, and risk profile. However, as a general rule, organizations should conduct a BIA at least once a year or whenever there are significant changes to the organization’s operations or risk profile.
Armed with all of this information, you’re ready to start your BCDR plan in earnest. We usually consider that there are three branches to a BCDR plan – you can read about them in more detail here, but we’ll cover the three branches below too.
Your emergency response focuses on the immediate response to a crisis or emergency situation. Think of this as your “to-do plan” if there’s a natural disaster, cyber-attack, or any other unexpected event that can disrupt business operations. In the fire drill example, this would be as simple as “sound the alarm and evacuate the office building using emergency exits.”
The main objective of an emergency or disaster response plan is to ensure the safety of employees and minimize damage to your business property, information, and infrastructure.
Once you’ve got past the initial response to the emergency, you can begin to manage the situation and ensure your business operations can resume. You’re not out of crisis mode yet, but you’ve stabilized things enough that you can move from reactiveness to active management.
Crisis management deals with the restoration of critical business functions after an interruption, including the recovery of data, systems, and operations. The objective is to ensure that business operations can be resumed as quickly as possible and minimize the impact of the disruption. For example, you might have a list of business partners you need to immediately call to inform and reschedule meetings or deliveries.
With the crisis now under control, you can start to rebuild and resume normal operations—this is your disaster recovery strategy. Whether you’re rebuilding infrastructure, recruiting new team members, or regaining customers’ trust, this stage is about getting your business back to where it was.
But you shouldn’t forget the experience and lessons you learned. Disaster recovery plans also focus on the proactive measures that organizations can take to mitigate the impact of another potential disaster or crisis.
Disaster recovery planning includes risk assessment and risk management, developing contingency plans, and establishing procedures and protocols for responding to emergencies. The objective is to reduce the likelihood and severity of a disruption to business operations again.
Phew! You now have a BCDR plan. You can file it away and rest easy now, right? Sorry, wrong! Just like running regular fire drills, your BCDR plan needs to be constantly tested and iterated. Moreover, every time you do a new business impact analysis (or BIA), you’ll potentially identify new areas of vulnerability that your BCDR needs to account for.
Here are some steps to follow when testing your BCDR plan:
Overall, testing a BCDR plan should be thought of as one of your critical business processes. It helps to ensure that your organization is prepared to respond effectively to a disaster or disruption. By following a structured testing process, your organization can identify and address weaknesses in the plan, and increase its overall level of preparedness.
Ready to get started and/or need help? Working with the experts at Thoropass can help you build the foundations for a resilient business that stands the test of time, including building and maintaining a rock-solid business continuity and disaster recovery plan.
Surviving in the modern business world without a properly aligned backup policy template for your information security infrastructure is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Business continuity, data protection, compliance, and disaster recovery are all tied to the ISO 27001 security framework, so not having a backup policy in place in your business continuity plan can spell disaster for your entire organization.
If you want to implement an airtight backup policy for your security infrastructure, it’s necessary to define the framework we are working with. The ISO 27001 standard for information security is a framework that helps the organization establish, implement, monitor, and review the information security practices of people, technology, and processes.
Becoming ISO 27001 certified means that you are taking your data management and security processes seriously. While it will primarily be the method in which you are able to keep up with the ever-evolving threats of the day, it can also help improve relationships with current clients as well as win over new clients that can place their trust in your superior information security policies.
Getting ISO 27001 certified is just the tip of the iceberg. But you still need to consider what happens when your systems get disrupted by an unexpected event or disaster. In that situation, you will need to make sure that your backup policies and processes are aligned with the certification standard.
Any conversation about a backup policy needs to start with risk assessments of the elements that are critical to keeping your organization afloat. More specifically, the data that is needed to be backed up based on the impact of the loss of that data.
Figuring out what the exact information is that can have a major impact on your organization will be the first step. For example, PII (personally identifiable information) can include a wide amount of information like social security numbers, birthdates, and financial information like credit card numbers. A leak, disruption, or general loss of this data can result in major financial and reputational consequences.
Identifying where this information lives and prioritizing these assets can help when assessing the likelihood of threats like software failures, cyber attacks like ransomware or phishing, and natural disasters that might exploit one or several vulnerabilities in your current infrastructure. This can also help with business continuity / operational continuity in events such as the recent pandemic, where we saw a work-from-home remodel for most organizations.
Once you’ve managed to take stock of your critical data and the threats they are exposed to, it is time to define the backup requirements around them. These requirements need to be in line with your current business needs as well as any regulatory requirements that define the industry the organization operates within.
Going back to our healthcare example, having your backup processes in line with HIPAA regulations and patient confidentiality is key. Mapping integrated policies and procedures that incorporate the requirements of ISO 27001 and HIPAA around areas of overlap within your backup policy template to protect PHI is paramount. This can easily get very complex very quickly so if you need help from an extra pair of eyes, you should do your best to connect with an expert.
The risk assessment portion of your backup policy template will give you a more nuanced insight into what the operational needs of the organization are. Information like the acceptable level of downtime in the case of a critical loss of data and SLAs (service level agreements) can help you set up more informed backup schedules that align with the nature of the data.
More sensitive information might require more frequent backups while less critical data might be subject to less frequent backups. Making sure you update this information according to the current risk environment is instrumental for success.
Additionally, having a greater frequency of backups during important business times may also be a prudent strategy business owners can employ. E-commerce organizations might want to invest more heavily into large-scale backup efforts during major holiday seasons when loads are significantly higher.
Looking at your RPO (Recovery Point Objective) will determine how often backups are needed to protect the data. Adjusting your RPO in the template for different times of the year, according to the current risk landscape can help minimize data loss in the event of a disruption.
If you normally have an RPO of 30 minutes, that means you are willing to lose at most half an hour’s worth of data in the case of an unplanned disruption. In some situations, you might want to raise the frequency to an RPO of 15 minutes meaning that you backup data every one hour to meet business needs in the current context.
Additionally, DevOps teams can use version control to ensure that different versions of the data are properly backed up, allowing you to easily restore previous versions if needed.
Diversifying where you keep mission-critical data can be the difference between successfully recovering from a disruption and completely failing. Implementing multiple backup copies across different parts of the entire infrastructure can help ensure that the data is eventually recovered.
For example, having multiple cloud instances or an alternative remote location where critical data is stored ensures that it isn’t siloed away in one spot, thus minimizing the impact of a system failure and maximizing system availability.
ISO 27001 security requirements are stringent and for good reason. Nobody wants to wake up on a Saturday morning and realize that all their crucial data is in the wrong hands. That’s why encryption and authorization/authentication methods are critical elements of a security template.
Planning to use TLS (transport layer security) algorithms in conjunction with End-to-End Encryption where data is encrypted prior to being uploaded to the cloud and only decrypted once it is on the client’s side can ensure a high degree of security throughout the entire data backup and recovery process.
However, even with all the security in place, it is still possible for attackers to breach external contractors that have access to VPN credentials that can render your incident response team obsolete. This is specifically what happened to Uber in September 2022.
The takeaway: a single, central point of authentication can result in access to various cloud-based systems. When coming up with your ISO 27001 backup policy template, make sure to draw provisions into this possibility and train employees to guard against suspected phishing attacks that could lead to malware and other downstream attacks that could bypass MFA protections.
A backup policy template that successfully keeps your organization from going under (and your senior management from losing their hats) in the midst of an unexpected disruption should be approached as a living, breathing document that changes according to the current landscape.
That’s why it’s important to emphasize evergreen backup templates that are tested regularly against the major threats of the day. First, define how you test, monitor, and analyze results. Once you’ve come up with a repeatable testing process, regularly test backup logs for data integrity. This could throw off test results that might cause a major issue in the event of an actual disruption.
Communication and coordination are the key hallmarks of success when developing a backup policy template. Consulting with these stakeholders is important because they have insight into where your most vulnerable elements might lie. A compliance expert in your legal department might have access to information that your IT department does not. Having the two collaborate on an effective plan could make all the difference in an emergency situation.
Focusing your efforts on key decision-maker behavior in your policy template could come at a high cost to your organization. That’s why it is critical to make sure you have a built-in roadmap for how to best train employees in their roles and responsibilities. You trust them with day-to-day business activities so it only makes sense that you should trust them in emergency situations.
An ISO 27001 backup policy template will vary from company to company depending on the required scopes that match the needs of the business. A comprehensive plan digs deep into multiple aspects of risk, backup requirements, and all the changes in the industry to create an airtight infrastructural security management system.
Aligning your template documents with ISO 27001 and mapping them to the unique data requirements of your industry can be challenging. You don’t want to go at it alone. Lucky for you, Thoropass provides templates with their ISO 27001 audit preparation services. Reach out to an expert to learn more about how we can help with all of your backup and recovery efforts.
Any organization, no matter how big or how small, is bound to undergo some kind of disruption at some point. With everything needed to keep a business up and running, it’s almost impossible for something not to go wrong. That’s why analyzing and measuring operational and financial impacts on the business is important.
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of what a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is and the steps you need to conduct one.
A business impact analysis predicts the consequences of a disruption in critical business processes or elements. It involves processing and gathering the human and technology resources needed to come up with an appropriate recovery strategy.
A major disruption can lead to any of the following:
Any one of these issues can completely derail your organization, no matter the market conditions. As a result, it is important to pinpoint the exact locations of vulnerabilities in critical business functions and close the gaps through rigorous business impact analysis followed by thorough business continuity plan implementations.
Before we dive into conducting a BIA, it is worth noting that many of the steps outlined here should be customized according to your organization’s business needs. This will ensure you obtain the highest ROI (return on investment).
During a disaster, time is of the essence, and prioritizing the most critical business elements will go a long way during the recovery phase. In order to successfully carry this out, however, it is important to identify the criticality of all the elements across all verticals within the organization.
Business functions like sales, production, legal, supply chain management, finance, customer service, and PR are essential elements that make up the inner workings of the organization. When any of these areas is significantly impacted by disruption, it can spell disaster for the entire company.
Roping in key decision makers for input through a business impact analysis questionnaire can uncover detailed knowledge about specific vulnerabilities should certain critical elements fail. More specifically, this information should uncover each function’s contribution to revenue generation, the impact on customer service, the role it plays in regulatory compliance requirements, and other business-specific variables.
Establishing criteria of criticality can help organize how essential the function is towards operations and what the impact is in the case of a disruption.
Understanding your key risks and impacts prior to making any process changes will help you better understand the scope of changes as well as the exact steps to take when making them.
There are an infinite number of risks and impacts that can befall any organization, but the key here is to figure out the ones that are most likely to have an impact on your processes in the current environment that you are in.
You can look at the laundry list of natural disasters, technology failures, human errors, regulatory changes, and internal or external threats. Still, it won’t do you any good unless you can whittle down the most likely risks you face. You need to first define the purpose and scope of your risk assessment efforts.
Figuring out what you want to achieve for a specific critical business element will help you narrow down the action items to take to patch up any existing vulnerabilities.
For example, if you are a business associate or covered entity in the healthcare industry, you run a high probability of getting fined by a regulatory body like the ONC or CMS if you are not up to date with the HIPAA Privacy Rule in your current business practices. Expert judgment and data analysis can help you prioritize and identify which practices are likely to have a major impact on your business in the case of a disruption.
Assess the severity of the potential impacts of each identified risk or disruption on the critical elements. Consider factors such as the duration of the disruption, the magnitude of the impact, and the recovery time objectives (RTOs) for each function.
Knowing the severity of disruption ahead of time can help you implement a continuity plan closer to the ideal scenario of a disruption having no impact at all. Take into consideration factors like disruption duration and impact magnitude:
The internal and external systems and resources that are fundamental to your business operations can also be a source of risk. Locating these vendors, suppliers, IT systems, and other stakeholders critical to your success and assessing them for risk might change how and with whom you form those partnerships.
Depending on an external party for a certain service might place more stress on your processes than bringing everything in-house. On the other hand, the opposite could hold true. Therefore, it is important to thoroughly assess your partnerships and create a situation where you carry the least amount of risk.
Develop recovery strategies and options for each critical business function based on the identified risks, impacts, and dependencies. This may include strategies such as backup and redundancy plans, alternative sourcing, remote working arrangements, or other contingency measures.
When we talk about recovery strategies, we are really talking about ways to mitigate the current situation with the goal of getting as close to a disruption never happening in the first place or, at the very least, ensuring that critical business operations are up and running as quickly as possible.
Depending on the circumstance, recovery might look like using backup product suppliers to find an appropriate remote working environment for critical team members. Regardless of what it looks like, contingency measures need to be carefully pre-defined so they can be deployed without hesitation at a moment’s notice.
Based on the analysis that you have conducted, the next step is to begin to implement your findings into some mitigation measures. This will make up the bulk of the business continuity plan. You can segment this across different areas of the business, including:
Having an IT infrastructure that has built-in redundancy controls allows users to continue obtaining information, even in the event of a failure. More specifically, fault tolerance will allow visitors to receive access to the requested site, albeit with limited functionality.
This can be done by implementing redundant servers and storage devices to minimize a single point of failure. Load balancing can also be implemented to make sure that operations still continue even if an individual component fails.
Delegating roles and responsibilities, emergency services coordination, and resource allocation are all key components of an effective emergency response plan.
Figuring out how employees should react to evacuation protocols, shutdown procedures, and data recovery protocols is critical to operations in the midst of a disruption. Running exercises and tabletop sessions to prepare ahead of time is critical to the process flowing smoothly.
Communication will be one of the most critical aspects you can optimize in the event of a business disruption. Communication plans should outline:
Following these steps are crucial to surviving a catastrophic event or sudden business disruption. The specifics of each step will be different according to organizational needs and will make up a unique business impact analysis report. If you need any help coming up with your specific business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan, make sure to reach out to an expert.
Contrary to popular belief, resilient organizations don’t just naturally fall into place. They use a combination of tools and analyses that are painstakingly strategized, developed, tested, and implemented.
A successfully executed business impact analysis entails asking the right questions and implementing the right strategy at the right time. It requires knowing the ins and outs of the organization and getting to the bottom of key vulnerabilities in critical elements that your senior management can point out.
Understand that business disruptions are going to be a natural part of business operations in general. Evaluate your current strategies on a regular basis to stay in step with the current environment. Putting together a business impact analysis team that can make this a core part of your overall day-to-day business operations will get you that much closer to total organizational resilience.
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