Be prepared: Winterize your disaster recovery plan

by John McCormick | Nov 13, 2006 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Food & Beverage, disaster recovery, John McCormick, flu, Ready.gov, disaster planning, IT Locksmith Newsletter

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Takeaway: John McCormick takes a break from security bulletins to remind everyone about another crucial security gap--planning for disasters.

We actually have a relatively slow week in advance of the monthly Microsoft Security Bulletin releases and that gives me time to look at a very serious security problem�lack of planning for a disaster. With winter on the way, it's time to update your flood, snow-day, flu, and other disaster plans.

Be prepared for disasters great and small

When I posted a blog entry about the need to prepare for a possible pandemic, I was shocked to learn how many people dismissed the importance of disaster planning, saying I was just trying to scare people.

Let me be perfectly clear: disasters happen and�if one hits your company and IT managers aren�t prepared�they soon will be looking for a new job.

Your company's potential for a disaster may be a result of the normal flu season, which can keep half the company�s employees at home�either sick themselves, caring for their children, or staying home because they want to avoid the flu. But it may be a flood in your basement (that happens a lot in nearby Pittsburgh), which kills your power and closes the entire building. Or, it may be anything from a terrorist incident to a blizzard that stops air travel and keeps key personnel out of town.

A company can keep limping along if any one part of the business fails unexpectedly, but if critical IT services fail, the company's existence is at stake; it will depend on how much cash the firm can burn before going under.

Threats come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes from unlikely sources. In the not so distant past, some of us hardened computer installations against possible riots during another unpopular war. We quickly removed any signs pointing to our computer rooms and any reference to doing government work. Today, few companies advertise the location of their server room for reasons of physical security.

My next battle was to get people to not only make regular backups but to store them OFF-SITE! That was much harder than you would believe, but it's pretty standard today.

Now IT needs to prepare for the day when, for one reason or another, most of the building their company occupies is empty because workers can�t or won�t go to a physical location for some reason.

Fortunately telecommuting is a very reasonable option today but IT must take the lead in preparing for any threat which would disrupt the company�s operation.

Disaster planning is complex, but a lot of the work has already been done for you. Check out Ready.gov for a start; the site includes checklists, posters, and booklets that you can customize to fit your company.

IMPORTANT: One thing I must emphasize is that many companies forget a very important part of disaster planning�the employees' families.

Helping employees get their families ready for a disaster is vital because taking care of family members will keep workers at home, and ones who do arrive at their desks may spend most of their time worrying about family concerns.

Ready.gov includes special sections for families and even for kids and these are every bit as important to businesses as the IT planning.

If you think this isn�t important, then obviously you've never seen news reports showing empty shelves in grocery or hardware stores when a hurricane threatens. It certainly looks like no one in the area ever thought to have a few days' supply of food and water stashed in a closet, or thought of keeping a flashlight in the car. Prepare your employees and they will be at work instead of waiting in line for bottled water.

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