In the contemporary world, businesses rely heavily on computers and information technology systems for the smooth running of operations. However, the modern technology is prone to significant security and malfunctioning issues that may result in loss of data and finances. For this reason, organizations should be well equipped in preparation of various technological hitches to avoid the inconveniences associated with it.
The business risks that may occur because of loss of business information may have adverse effects on the future of the organization. As a result, many firms hire IT experts, who have multiple roles, including protecting the business from possible information related threats. According to Casey, (2011) the professionals come up with recovery strategies if a disaster occurs. Additionally, the team is responsible for ensuring that the business runs on the latest and safest systems, thus, safeguarding the operations of the company.
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"Information Continuity and Disaster Recovery".
In the event of an attack, an organization can effortlessly come back and overcome the incident if they have a well-coordinated disaster management system. The management of the IT department should continuously remind the employees of the steps they should follow to avoid further chaos if an unfortunate event occurred (Casey, 2011). Additionally, every company should have a disaster response plan that regulates the steps that various employees should undertake to lessen the impact on the firm. If employees do things without following the set criteria, they may worsen the situation and make the company less capable of overcoming the outcome.
One popular method of avoiding business disasters is to have secure systems and ethics. In this case, employees should be cautious about sharing vital information with third parties, such as partners, suppliers, and customers. Communication with other organizations and stakeholders is inevitable in business operations. As a result, the incident response team should be in close contact with all the organization’s departments to ensure that they are aware of the extent, which they should share information with outsiders. The entities should also have good records of people, who know the internal operations of the business. In the event of a breach of security, the disaster response team may be able to identify the source of the act, thus, increasing the chances of capturing the responsible parties.
A company should try capturing the individuals responsible for the interruptions encountered. For that reason, the organization should have proper and specific communication channels with law enforcement agencies. Moreover, if a disaster ensues, the firm can promptly communicate the incident with the relevant authorities and investigations can begin immediately. Reports indicate that if an event is reported early and investigations commence, chances of capturing a culprit may increase (Cichonski, Millar, Grance & Scarfone, 2012). Additionally, it is prudent that the firm designates the process of oversight and reporting to one or two individuals. The employees tasked with this responsibility should be in contact with relevant organizations that deal with disasters, such as the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
The most vital resource that a company risks losing in cases of hacking and system shutdowns is information. Many organizations today rely on the information gathered to undertake critical operations, such as decision-making (Cichonski et al., 2012). A business continuity plan should comprise of backup systems that secure the company’s data at all times. Additionally, the backup systems should have different security measures. A company may risk losing valuable data if hackers hack and crash its systems. In most cases, the information of any organization is probably the backbone of its operations. For example, banks solely depend on customer account details to find out the creditworthiness of an employee, their loan and saving balances (Cichonski et al., 2012). If a single branch financial institution loses the entire customer’s information, chances are very slim that the business will progress. Similarly, all organizations should ensure that their data is secure and backed up. In the event of system failure, the information retrieval process can commence, and the business can manage to recover from the disaster and spring back to operation.
Companies encounter significant inconveniences and difficulties in information recovery if the intruders damage the hardware and software components. In some cases, malicious hackers may destroy all saved information, for example, the backup systems. As a result, the company may encounter significant challenges in overcoming such a setback. Research suggests that such attacks may arise because of sharing vital information with external parties (Peltier, 2013). For that reason, various companies experience a managerial challenge of coming up with an operational safety precaution system. The desired system should be able to protect data stored in backup systems.
The undisputable way of ensuring information continuity and business recovery from disasters is through acquiring the necessary resources required to protect and handle incidences of attack and system shutdowns. Additionally, the management of companies should ensure that the departments are well-structured with well-trained employees, who promptly act in the event of risk of loss of data. The organization should secure their systems in a way that can detect risks relating to system downtimes and intrusion by unauthorized personnel, thus, warning the relevant authorities (Cichonski et al., 2012). Additionally, a company can come up with profiling systems and networks that easily detect suspicious activities. Moreover, the disaster management team should ensure that all channels that may lead to the access of company information and backup systems are blocked once a suspicious activity is spotted.
In conclusion, organizations profoundly depend on their information systems. For that reason, companies should come up with policies that ensure their information is securely stored and well backed up. An organization’s recovery from an impending disaster will significantly depend on the precautions the management sets up. Firms should have departments dedicated to countering various efforts that may affect the safety of their information systems and their business continuity.
