Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals


Book Description

Powerful Earthquake Triggers Tsunami in Pacific. Hurricane Katrina Makes Landfall in the Gulf Coast. Avalanche Buries Highway in Denver. Tornado Touches Down in Georgia. These headlines not only have caught the attention of people around the world, they have had a significant effect on IT professionals as well. As technology continues to become more integral to corporate operations at every level of the organization, the job of IT has expanded to become almost all-encompassing. These days, it's difficult to find corners of a company that technology does not touch. As a result, the need to plan for potential disruptions to technology services has increased exponentially. That is what Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is: a methodology used to create a plan for how an organization will recover after a disaster of various types. It takes into account both security and corporate risk management tatics.There is a lot of movement around this initiative in the industry: the British Standards Institute is releasing a new standard for BCP this year. Trade shows are popping up covering the topic.* Complete coverage of the 3 categories of disaster: natural hazards, human-caused hazards, and accidental and technical hazards.* Only published source of information on the new BCI standards and government requirements.* Up dated information on recovery from cyber attacks, rioting, protests, product tampering, bombs, explosions, and terrorism.




Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery for InfoSec Managers


Book Description

Every year, nearly one in five businesses suffers a major disruption to its data or voice networks or communications systems. Since 9/11 it has become increasingly important for companies to implement a plan for disaster recovery. This comprehensive book addresses the operational and day-to-day security management requirements of business stability and disaster recovery planning specifically tailored for the needs and requirements of an Information Security Officer. This book has been written by battle tested security consultants who have based all the material, processes and problem- solving on real-world planning and recovery events in enterprise environments world wide.John has over 25 years experience in the IT and security sector. He is an often sought management consultant for large enterprise and is currently a member of the Federal Communication Commission's Homeland Security Network Reliability and Interoperability Council Focus Group on Cybersecurity, working in the Voice over Internet Protocol workgroup. James has over 30 years experience in security operations and technology assessment as a corporate security executive and positions within the intelligence, DoD, and federal law enforcement communities. He has a Ph.D. in information systems specializing in information security and is a member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE), the International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines. He is currently an Independent Consultant.·Provides critical strategies for maintaining basic business functions when and if systems are shut down·Establishes up to date methods and techniques for maintaining second site back up and recovery·Gives managers viable and efficient processes that meet new government rules for saving and protecting data in the event of disasters




Disaster Recovery, Crisis Response, and Business Continuity


Book Description

You're in charge of IT, facilities, or core operations for your organization when a hurricane or a fast-moving wildfire hits. What do you do? Simple. You follow your business continuity/disaster recovery plan. If you've prepared in advance, your operation or your company can continue to conduct business while competitors stumble and fall. Even if your building goes up in smoke, or the power is out for ten days, or cyber warriors cripple your IT systems, you know you will survive. But only if you have a plan. You don't have one? Then Disaster Recovery, Crisis Response, and Business Continuity: A Management Desk Reference, which explains the principles of business continuity and disaster recovery in plain English, might be the most important book you'll read in years. Business continuity is a necessity for all businesses as emerging regulations, best practices, and customer expectations force organizations to develop and put into place business continuity plans, resilience features, incident-management processes, and recovery strategies. In larger organizations, responsibility for business continuity falls to specialist practitioners dedicated to continuity and the related disciplines of crisis management and IT service continuity. In smaller or less mature organizations, it can fall to almost anyone to prepare contingency plans, ensure that the critical infrastructure and systems are protected, and give the organization the greatest chance to survive events that can--and do--bankrupt businesses. A practical how-to guide, this book explains exactly what you need to do to set up and run a successful business continuity program. Written by an experienced consultant with 25 years industry experience in disaster recovery and business continuity, it contains tools and techniques to make business continuity, crisis management, and IT service continuity much easier. If you need to prepare plans and test and maintain them, then this book is written for you. You will learn: How to complete a business impact assessment. How to write plans that are easy to implement in a disaster. How to test so that you know your plans will work. How to make sure that your suppliers won't fail you in a disaster. How to meet customer, audit, and regulatory expectations. Disaster Recovery, Crisis Response, and Business Continuity: A Management Desk Reference will provide the tools, techniques, and templates that will make your life easier, give you peace of mind, and turn you into a local hero when disaster strikes.




The Disaster Recovery Handbook


Book Description

It takes careful planning to ensure that a disaster of any typewhether the result of fire, an electrical outage, a major computer virus, or even terrorismdoes not result in a prolonged service interruption that could affect your business for years to come. By creating a proactive disaster recovery program, you can keep your people, inventory, and resources safe and secure. The Disaster Recovery Handbook is a comprehensive reference to help your business survive any kind of major disruption, giving you the tools you need to protect your organization in the event of extraordinary circumstances. Filled with practical solutions and ready-to-use tools, the book provides detailed instructions for: * Assessing risk * Assembling a disaster recovery team * Building an interim plan for immediate protection * Setting up an emergency operations center * Clearly documenting recovery procedures * Testing and debugging the plan to make sure it works * Ensuring the health and physical safety of your people * Recovering vital records * Protecting your material resources




The Business Continuity Management Desk Reference


Book Description

Tools and techniques to make Business Continuity, Crisis Management and IT Service Continuity easy. If you need to prepare plans, test and maintain them, or if you need to set up DR or Work Area Recovery; then this book is written for you. The Business Continuity Desk Reference is written in simple language but is useful to both experienced professionals and newbies. Inside you'll discover: - The key concepts; explained in simple terms.- How to quickly assess your Business Continuity so that you can focus your time where it matters.- How to complete a Business Impact Assessment.- How to write plans quickly that are easy to use in a disaster.- How to test everything so that you know it will work.- How to assess any third party dependencies.- How to make sure that suppliers are robust. - How to meet customer, audit and regulatory expectations.- Get your hands on tools and templates that will make your life easy and make you look great.- Understand what other people do and how to delegate your work to them to make your life easier!




Business Continuity Planning


Book Description

This easy workbook format shows managers new to Business Continuity Planning how to quickly develop a basic plan and keep it updated. If you've been tasked with developing a basic business continuity plan and aren't sure where to start, this workbook with sample forms, checklists, templates, and plans will walk you step-by-step through the process. The book is aimed at single/few location companies with up to 250 employees and is more oriented to an office environment, especially where computer operations are critical. It offers a fast, practical approach for small companies with limited staff and time to customize a workable plan and expand it as they grow. Endorsed by The Business Continuity Institute and Disaster Recovery Institute International, it includes these helpful tools: Straightforward, jargon-free explanations emphasize the non-technical aspects of Information Technology/Disaster Recovery planning. Glossary with 120 terms and Appendices with sample risk assessment and risk analysis checklists. Extensive, easy to-use downloadable resources include reproducible worksheets, forms, templates, questionnaires, and checklists for various natural disasters and special hazards such as power outages, boiler failures, bomb threats, hazardous material spills, and civil unrest, along with a checklist for vital records storage. For professional development or college classes the book is accompanied by a set of Instructor Materials.




Business Continuity Exercises


Book Description

An Unexercised Continuity Plan Could Be More Dangerous Than No Plan At All! Is exercising your continuity program too time-consuming, costly, or difficult to justify in the face of conflicting organizational priorities or senior management buy-in? What if you could use quick, cost-effective, easy exercises to get valuable results with only a relatively modest commitment? Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just getting started, Charlie Maclean-Bristol provides you with expert guidance, a practical framework, and lots of proven examples, tools, tips, techniques and scenarios to get your business continuity exercise program moving! You can carry out any of the 18 simple yet effective exercises detailed in this book in less than an hour, regardless of your level of experience. Plus, you will find all the support you will need to produce successful exercises. Build your teams’ knowledge, experience, confidence and abilities while validating your business continuity program, plans and procedures with these proven resources! Business Continuity Exercises: Quick Exercises to Validate Your Plan Will Help You To: Understand the process of planning and conducting business exercises efficiently while achieving maximum results. Develop the most appropriate strategy framework for conducting and assessing your exercise. Overcome obstacles to your business continuity exercise program, whether due to budget restrictions, time constraints, or conflicting priorities. Choose the most appropriate and effective exercise scenario, purpose and objectives. Plan and conduct your exercise using a straightforward, proven methodology with extensive tools and resources. Conduct exercises suitable for responding to all types of business interruptions and emergencies, including cyber incidents and civil disasters. Conduct exercises for newcomers to business continuity as well as for experienced practitioners. Create a comprehensive post-exercise report to achieve valuable insights, keep management and participants in the loop, and to further your objectives.




Business Continuity from Preparedness to Recovery


Book Description

Business Continuity from Preparedness to Recovery: A Standards-Based Approach details the process for building organizational resiliency and managing Emergency and Business Continuity programs. With over 30 years of experience developing plans that have been tested by fire, floods, and earthquakes, Tucker shows readers how to avoid common traps and ensure a successful program, utilizing, detailed Business Impact Analysis (BIA) questions, continuity strategies and planning considerations for specific business functions. One of the few publications to describe the entire process of business continuity planning from emergency plan to recovery, Business Continuity from Preparedness to Recovery addresses the impact of the new ASIS, NFPA, and ISO standards. Introducing the important elements of business functions and showing how their operations are maintained throughout a crisis situation, it thoroughly describes the process of developing a mitigation, prevention, response, and continuity Management System according to the standards. Business Continuity from Preparedness to Recovery fully integrates Information Technology with other aspects of recovery and explores risk identification and assessment, project management, system analysis, and the functional reliance of most businesses and organizations in a business continuity and emergency management context. - Offers a holistic approach focusing on the development and management of Emergency and Business Continuity Management Systems according to the new standards - Helps ensure success by describing pitfalls to avoid and preventive measures to take - Addresses program development under the standards recently developed by ISO, ASIS and NFPA - Provides both foundational principles and specific practices derived from the author's long experience in this field - Explains the requirements of the Business Continuity Standards




A Guide to Business Continuity Planning


Book Description

The interest in Business Continuity has gained significant momentum in the last few years, especially with the Y2K non-event, the increasing corporate dependence on computer systems and the growing levels of devastation associated with recent disasters. This book takes an organization interested in continuity planning through the processes needed to develop an effective plan. "Jim Barnes has succeeded in providing us a much-needed tool, with which we can condidently face many of the day-to-day challenges of business contingency planning ... With this book, he has taken an important step in removing much of the guesswork and frustration from the business continuity implementation project." From the Foreword by Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI, President of Rothstein Associates Inc., Publisher of The Rothstein Catalog on Disaster Recovery, 2001




Disaster Recovery Testing


Book Description

Rather than providing readers with only one perspective on testing contingency plans, Mr. Rothstein has taken the powerful approach of carefully assembling a panel of thirty professionals to contribute their unique expertise in 36 detailed chapters, 350+ pages,covering such subject areas as:- test planning and management, including management's role, budgeting, justification and politics- test participants and resources, including professional development, human factors, the test team, self-assessment, the roles of vendors, consultants, auditors, clients, software- testing methods, including walkthroughs, simulations, joint testing, surprise testing, real disasters as the ultimate test- what is being tested, including business units, locations, data centers, voice / data communications, trading floors, local area networks- any other practical considerations, such as test monitoring, first-time testing, feedback, reporting and follow-up;even a sample test plan is included.