Disasters come in various forms,including floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and fires. Did you ever imagine that a disaster could materialize because of a virus? The COVID-19 pandemic rocked everyone’s perception of nearly everything, including disaster recovery and business continuity.
If your business has experienced rapid and massive changes to adjust to the effects of COVID-19’s recommended or mandated lockdowns, quarantines, and calls for essential personnel only, you might have encountered several negative consequences. When a large portion of your workforce is reporting remotely, it certainly affects matters such as data management and data destruction.
TechRepublic points out that “the need for a disaster recovery business continuity plan is becoming more critical as enterprise adjusts to the business disruptions caused by the coronavirus.”
How Has COVID-19 Impacted Information Security Operations?
Much of today’s IT management teams focus on staying ahead of all the great unknowns associated with cyberspace. No one saw COVID-19 coming, so no one needed to imagine coming up with a disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) plan to deal with a virus.
Of course, the virus itself did not make the impact. It was the global response, which called for businesses to drastically alter operations in an instant. IT teams needed to scramble to get remote workers equipped and up-to-speed with distance working procedures, including video conference calling with Zoom for meetings and getting used to messaging via multiple applications.
Businesses that have managed to stay afloat and healthy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and all the necessary precautions to help reduce its spread count themselves lucky since many businesses have succumbed to the massive challenges and shut down their enterprise.
Perhaps your business has experienced questions and concerns associated with the necessity of allowing your staff to work from home, which certainly has the power to affect the overall operations of your organization amid a pandemic.
Here are a few concerns IT management teams have faced for much of 2020:
• Lack of internal IT expertise to prepare employees to work remotely
• Confidential customer, human resource, and intellectual data off-premises with remote workers
• Uncertainty regarding each employee’s home internet security, such as whether they have a firewall and a VPN
These concerns are valid, but you can manage them more easily by rethinking your DR and BC plans.
Review and Improve Your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans to Stand Up to COVID-19.
Hopefully, your business is running smoothly as COVID-19 is still causing disruptions around the globe. The fact is current limitations may stay the same for some time, and unfortunately, realistic business and IT leaders cannot rule out the possibility that things could become worse again at some point.
Essentially, it is better to hope for the best but prepare for anything.
With that in mind, it is time to start thinking about how you can buff up your DR and BC planning strategies. One core factor to keep in mind when tackling this project is that DR and BC are about constant communication with your employees and any other associated parties.
Here are some additional steps you might take to firm up your DR and BC plans:
• Design and implement a remote access infrastructure that is fully secure for your entire workforce. Provide appropriate hardware and software needed for optimal productivity and security, such as laptops, high-speed internet, VPNs, and on-site servers.
• Provide special information and training to help employees identify online threats, such as phishing scams and ransomware attacks, so they know to report them immediately to your information security team.
• Ensure that employees have constant access to vital information regarding contacts in case of an emergency, such as an immediate disaster like a fire or tornado. Provide a list of telephone numbers and email addresses online and via hard copy.
Are You Confident About Updating Your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans?
If you need more help in getting your DR and BC plans to stand up to the wild year of 2020 and beyond, Integris is here to help you. Reach out to us to book a 15-minute call and learn how we can help keep your business secure no matter where your employees are working.
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