Business Continuity Planning

If a major event such as a terrorist attack, 7.2 earthquake, tsunami, or hacker attack were to disrupt business operations, would your organization be prepared to respond to the financial, political, and social impacts? In order for your company to be resilient, it must be ready to respond and recover quickly from the impact of such events. Busines

Once considered a luxury, a business continuity plan has become a necessity. Many companies are required to have one by law. Others have implemented them to protect themselves from liability, and some have adopted them after a disaster or after a near miss. Whatever your reason, the right continuity plan is essential to your organization. Business

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.

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.

PRAISE FOR Business Continuity Management Few businesses can afford to shut down for an extended period of time, regardless of the cause. If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that disaster can strike in any shape, at any time. Be prepared with the time-tested strategies in Business Continuity Management: Building an Effective Incident Management Plan and protect your employees while ensuring your company survives the unimaginable. Written by Michael Blyth—one of the world's foremost consultants in the field of business contingency management—this book provides cost-conscious executives with a structured, sustainable, and time-tested blueprint toward developing an individualized strategic business continuity program. This timely book urges security managers, HR directors, program managers, and CEOs to manage nonfinancial crises to protect your company and its employees. Discussions include: Incident management versus crisis response Crisis management structures Crisis flows and organizational responses Leveraging internal and external resources Effective crisis communications Clear decision-making authorities Trigger plans and alert states Training and resources Designing and structuring policies and plans Monitoring crisis management programs Stages of disasters Emergency preparedness Emergency situation management Crisis Leadership Over 40 different crisis scenarios Developing and utilizing a business continuity plan protects your company, its personnel, facilities, materials, and activities from the broad spectrum of risks that face businesses and government agencies on a daily basis, whether at home or internationally. Business Continuity Management presents concepts that can be applied in part, or full, to your business, regardless of its size or number of employees. The comprehensive spectrum of useful concepts, approaches and systems, as well as specific management guidelines and report templates for over forty risk types, will enable you to develop and sustain a continuity management plan essential to compete, win, and safely operate within the complex and fluid global marketplace.

With a pedigree going back over ten years, The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management can rightly claim to be a classic guide to business risk management and contingency planning, with a style that makes it accessible to all business managers. Some of the original underlying principles remain the same – but much has changed. This is reflected in this radically updated third edition, with exciting and helpful new content from new and innovative contributors and new case studies bringing the book right up to the minute. This book combines over 500 years of experience from leading Business Continuity experts of many countries. It is presented in an easy-to-follow format, explaining in detail the core BC activities incorporated in BS 25999, Business Continuity Guidelines, BS 25777 IT Disaster Recovery and other standards and in the body of knowledge common to the key business continuity institutes. Contributors from America, Asia Pacific, Europe, China, India and the Middle East provide a truly global perspective, bringing their own insights and approaches to the subject, sharing best practice from the four corners of the world. We explore and summarize the latest legislation, guidelines and standards impacting BC planning and management and explain their impact. The structured format, with many revealing case studies, examples and checklists, provides a clear roadmap, simplifying and de-mystifying business continuity processes for those new to its disciplines and providing a benchmark of current best practice for those more experienced practitioners. This book makes a massive contribution to the knowledge base of BC and risk management. It is essential reading for all business continuity, risk managers and auditors: none should be without it.

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

Terrorism, natural disasters, or hazardous materials threaten the viability for all types of businesses. With an eye toward business scale, scope, and diversity, Business Continuity Planning: Increasing Workplace Resilience to Disasters, addresses a range of potential businesses from home-based to large corporations in the face of these threats, including the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Information on business continuity planning is easy to find but can be difficult to work through. Terminology, required content, and planning barriers often prevent progress. This volume solves such problems by guiding readers, step-by-step, through such actions as identifying hazards and assessing risks, writing critical functions, forming teams, and encouraging stakeholder participation. In essence, this volume serves as a business continuity planning coach for people new to the process or seeking to strengthen and deepen their ongoing efforts. By engaging stakeholders in a business continuity planning process, businesses can protect employees, customers, and their financial stability. Coupled with examples from recent disasters, planners will be able to inspire and involve stakeholders in creating a more resilient workplace. Designed for both educators and practitioners, Business Continuity Planning: Increasing Workplace Resilience to Disasters walks users through how to understand and execute the essential steps of business continuity planning. Presents evidence-based best practices coupled with standard operating procedures for business continuity planning in a stepwise, user-oriented manner Includes numerous examples and case studies bringing the ideas and procedures to life Provides user-friendly materials and resources, such as templated worksheets, checklists, and procedures with clear instructions, making the volume engaging and immediately operational