There Are No Excuses To Not Be Prepared

Skip Williams — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:56:36 +0100

Lets be honest here, there really is no excuse you can make to justify why your business is not protected with a business continuity or disaster recovery plan. For fun, lets just run through a few of the excuses we hear:

The software is too expensive.
We aren’t at risk – what could happen?
My company really isn’t big enough to need protection.
I don’t have the staff to manage a disaster recovery plan.

Seriously, we hear this all the time. Hopefully for your...

National Preparedness Month

Skip Williams — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:42:27 +0100

On August, 27, President Obama declared that September is National Preparedness Month. In this proclamation, President Obama stated "we stress the importance of strengthening the security and resiliency of our Nation through systematic preparation for the full range of hazards threatening the United States in the 21st century, including natural disasters, cyber attacks, pandemic disease, and acts of terrorism. "

At first glance as a business owner you most likely see the relevancy...

Test Post 745

Jane Blue — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:44:37 +0100

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. In pharetra, libero nec commodo adipiscing, nisi risus faucibus ante, sit amet lobortis purus ante at metus. Suspendisse sagittis ipsum non neque egestas ullamcorper. Sed a leo ligula, nec adipiscing turpis. Ut consequat, nibh et tempor mollis, quam magna laoreet nisi, commodo porta neque massa eget ante. Proin vulputate, felis a sodales pellentesque, velit est pretium magna, vel faucibus ipsum magna iaculis ligula.

Donec ...

Who Makes the Decisions?

Skip Williams — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 +0100

In every company there are decision-makers and decision-influencers. Often it is the decision-influencers who see the need for the service/solution and who work to convince the decision-makers to agree and sign the contract.

So, how does this apply when making decisions about your disaster recovery and business continuity plans? What is the normal process for your organization when making decisions that will have a large impact on the longevity and success of your company?

16 Days to go-Last minute Items for Fall 2010

Patti Fitzgerald — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Attendees Nite Out -On Tuesday 9/21/10 attendees at Fall World 2010 can experience the nightlife of San Diego with two exciting tour options. When the conference closes for the evening, the fun does not have to stop!

Our Attendees Night Out tour options offer the chance to experience shopping and dining in an easy, relaxed environment. Continue to network with other attendees while you view the sites, sounds and tastes of San Diego.

Attendees can choose from a tour of Old ...

BC Stories – Virginia Computer Outage

Glen Bricker — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

One of the ongoing problems in business continuity is articulating the business case in a way that resonates with executives and others in our organizations and doesn't require a twenty slide PowerPoint presentation. In an attempt to help, I will periodically post items as I find them in the news or wherever they turn up. The idea is to give business continuity professionals ideas for informal conversations that highlight both the need for business continuity activities...

Lessons To Remember

Skip Williams — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

You’ve done everything right:

You have a planYou have tested and verified your planYou’ve trained your team membersYou have maintained your plan

Disaster strikes! Now what? You know you’re prepared, but still there is some nervousness and uncertainty. You can relax knowing that your disaster recovery plan is working for you, but it is still essential to keep in mind the following life lessons:

Do Not Panic

Panic is the one thing that can cause your we...

The Great Waffle Shortage of 2009

Christopher Burton — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

If your morning routine always began with "L'eggo My Eggo", the great waffle shortage of 2009 probably left you missing that warm buttery and syrupy goodness. Considering that Eggos account for nearly 70% of frozen waffles, the shortage was treated as nothing less than a national calamity. With a flooded plant in Atlanta a...

Are You Acting On Past Lessons?

Skip Williams — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Just last week we posted on this blog about the World Health Organization’s announcement about the end of the H1N1 pandemic…. And now just less than a week later, we’re reading about a new possible threat to our health and safety.

That’s right the NDM-1 enzyme which creates an antibiotic bacteria. This superbug can exist within bacteria and the concern is that it can make such bacteria resistant to antibiotics, thereby creating a “medical threat&rdq...

Business Continuity & IT as a ‘Business within the Business’

Chad Goode — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Though I am seeing this change slowly in organizations across industries, most companies still separate IT disaster recovery from business-side continuity and process resumption planning. As planners, and often the IT guys realize this too, it is incredibly difficult for IT to prioritize and determine the appropriate technology investments without knowing what is important to the business… and how important in terms of quantifiable dollars-at-risk data.

Unfortunately,...

Losing sleep over the mail

John Glenn — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

OR, HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST TERRORISM BY POWDER?

Powder Mailer Strikes Again
Monday, Aug. 16, 2010

Global Security Newswire http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100816_2130.php

An unidentified individual or group of people this month has sent 30 powder-filled letters to businesses and other sites in three states, part of an apparent campaign that has involved hundreds of mailings and reached eight U.S. embassies, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 17, 20...

Business Continuity Lessons Learned?

Skip Williams — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Way back on November 9, 2009, we first wrote about the H1N1 flu virus. What at first appeared to just be another in the typical “winter flu” phase, quickly turned out to be much more than that. Seemingly overnight, we went from flu epidemic to flu pandemic.

Cue the panic. Cue the stress. Cue the chaos.

No one was prepared. The international health bodies weren’t prepared. Business wasn’t prepared. School boards weren’t ready. The general public...

When “Best Effort” Reactive Response Doesn’t Cut It

Stacy Gardner — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

As anyone who monitors news sources knows, British Petroleum (BP) has taken a beating in the media since the April 20th explosion that led to eleven deaths and hundreds of millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. While the latest effort to cap the well appears effective, the perception associated with BP's reactive "by the seat of our pants" response effort failed to restore feelings of goodwill and faith, which will most likely lead to a c...

Is Your Business Continuity Plan For Your Eyes Only?

Skip Williams — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Thankfully, more and more businesses are recognizing the need for business continuity plans (BCP) and disaster recovery plans (DR). This means that more companies, such as yourself actually have BCP and DR plans.

But it also means that your clients and potential clients are aware of the need for such plans… So what do you do...

It's all about T R A I N I N G

John Glenn — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Rite Aid Agrees to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case - Company agrees to substantial corrective action to safeguard consumer information

From an email from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

=====

Rite Aid Corporation and its 40 affiliated entities have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U...

Back to Basics

Skip Williams — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Like any niche business, this one of Disaster Recovery Planning and Business Continuity Planning has its own jargon and terminology. Often for people new to thinking about and considering how their company can be best protected in the event of a disaster, this jargon becomes overwhelming.

So to help clear the air and keep things simple, lets review some of the key terms of our industry – hopefully making it easier for you to discuss Disaster Recovery Planning and Business C...

Incident vs. Disaster

Skip Williams — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Is the sky falling? Or are we over sensitive?

June 23rd 2010 is a date that for some will remain an important day, but for most of us, it was just another day. On this day, there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake in the North East of North America. If you live in an area that experiences these types of tremors on a regular basis, you’re probably giggling at the near hysterical response that did occur... If you live in the North East, you experienced a one in ...

46 Days & Counting!

Patti Fitzgerald — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

RESERVATIONS

Attendees are responsible for making their own hotel reservations by calling 877-734-2726. Refer to Booking #22035. Ask for DRJ's special room rate. Or, you can go on line to reserve a room - use the same booking #22035. Reserve a Room Here

Do my job for me, please

John Glenn — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Dear All
Can you please provide me with a risk management report or risk assessment report or any report to indentify risks in the bank
Regards
(Name withheld to protect the guilty)

The above was posted to - well what is supposed to be - a professional list.

Note the petitioner is not asking for help or how to go about the task at hand; he is looking for a check list.

"I don't have time to look around the organization to see what risks might b...

CFTC Issues Proposed Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Regulation

John Glenn — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0100

From http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr5853-10.html

RELEASE: PR5853-10
July 14, 2010

CFTC Issues Proposed Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Regulation for DCMs and DCOs and Conforming Amendments to the Core Principle Guidance Applicable to DCMs.

Washington, DC - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today proposed a regulation that would establish a recovery standard for

Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) and&n...

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