Term Paper on "Disaster Recovery Planning"

Term Paper 12 pages (4106 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Disaster Recovery Planning

Over the last several years corporations have been wrestling with a number of different disaster / security related issues. This is because of the increasing amounts of threats made against businesses and their executives, by terrorist organizations along with a variety of natural disasters that must be planned for. A good example of the overall severity of these threats made against businesses can be found by looking no further than the killing of a bomb maker named Dulmatin (in Indonesia). This is significant because he was the bomb maker that manufactured the bombs used in the 2002 Bali terrorist attacks. The terrorist group that he was associated with was in the process of planning another major terrorist attack, on various business interests in Jakarta. According the police officials, the terrorists were planning on conducting a coordinated attack similar to the one that took place in Mumbai, India in 2008. The idea was to use the explosive devices to gain access to various international businesses frequented by foreigners. Then, take them hostage as part of an overall change in tactics. This follows attacks that have taken place in Jakarta after the terrorist bombings on the Marriot Hotel in 2003 and 2009. (Pathoni) What this shows, is how various terrorist tactics are constantly changing and that all business must be prepared for anything that can happen. To be most effectively be prepared for these different terrorist attacks and natural disasters requires that you have a disaster recovery plan in place. However, to create any kind of disaster recovery plan requires that you ensure that all elements of a location security are never compromised. This would include: accounting for data recovery, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), personnel issues and the estimation for the costs of having such a plan in place. Together, all of these different elements will highlight how all corporations can effectively plan for a variety of disaster related situations.

Establishing a Disaster Recovery Plan

In general, most large corporations will spend between 2% and 4% of their annual budget on planning for various disasters. This is because of the low odds a company / location have in being able to effectively overcome such situations, especially when you consider the fact that valuable data could be lost. In these cases, those companies who are experiencing these issues will face an uphill battle in bringing a location back to normal. According to a study conducted by Health Management Today, they found that those business or locations that experience a loss of data as a result of a terrorist attack / natural disaster will have a 43% chance of never reopening. Those who do reopen after such an incident; stand a 51% chance of closing within two years. While, there are only 6% of those companies / locations that will return to normal after such incidents. (Hoffer 79 -- 85) To effectively create a disaster recovery plan requires that you consider a number of different factors during the planning process to include: perform a risk analysis, establish a budget, create the plan and test the plan. Then, utilize each of the different steps laid out in establishing an effective plan. Together, these different elements will help to institute a disaster recovery plan that will protect the company and it numerous locations from a number of different disasters or terrorist related events.

When you analyze the overall risks, this issue seems like something that is very obvious to all CEO's and company officers. However, to effectively conduct any kind of effective risk analysis means that you must examine all variables that could affect the security of the company and a location. This could include everything from: in house recovery planning (i.e. situations such as data being lost by an employee) to the more complicated attacks that could take place (including cyber attacks). When conducting this initial risk assessment, it is important to look at anything that could posse a risk to the company or any of its assets (no matter how small it could be). (Kunene)

Next, you want to establish a budget for countering the possible risks that were identified. During this phase of planning, you want to be thinking proactively about limiting exposure to possible threats. This means, you want to see what would be the total effect that any kind of downtime will have on a location. This would involve analyzing the costs that the company would face as far damages and publicity, because of an event that occurred. Next, you want to analyze the different costs associated for various counter measures to protect the company / location from a variety of different scenarios. Together these two elements will provide the most accurate assessment as to what are: the total costs of an incident on a particular site and the investment necessary to prevent the worst case scenarios. (Kunene)

The third step is: to develop an effective plan. During this process you want to be sure to address all issues that are vital to a company / location including: accounting for data recovery, the Emergency Operations Center and personnel issues. There must be an emphasis of having a location or an alternate location up and running within 24 to 48 hours. This will avoid the disruptions that can drastically affect the chances of a particular site reopening. (Kunene)

The fourth step is: to continually test the disaster recovery plan. Once an effective plan has been implemented, you must constantly test the plan. This means that a number of surprise scenarios must occur frequently, to ensure that all security measures are in place. If there is a weakness in the security that is discovered at any point in time, you must address the issue immediately. (Kunene)

Company / Site Location Issues

Data Recovery

The company has 12 locations that are vulnerable to natural disasters in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States (i.e. hurricanes / tornados), along with three locations that are in hot beds for terrorist activity. This means that there are multiple threats that could be facing any of the company's different locations around the world. Therefore, it is only prudent that a disaster recovery plan be utilized where there will be specific company guidelines. Then, this plan must be adapted to each particular location to address the unique threats and challenges. When establishing the plan, it is important to consider how any kind of data recovery will take place. This is because many companies find the process of storing / retrieving data cumbersome as well as expensive. A good example of this can be seen in a recent survey conducted by Enterprise Storage Group. Where, they found that 51% of businesses worry that their data recovery system is not adequate. The most common reason why so many businesses were having problems with their data recovery system is: the process was too long and there were large amounts of time / resources spent on addressing the problem. What this shows, is that in order for any kind of data recovery plan to be effective requires that the company consistently address any kind of issues that may come up. (Kunene) This means that there must be a constant focus on protecting those systems that are vital to the company / location. Where, a variety of different data systems are used to store large amounts of information ranging from customers lists to information on key personnel.

The first step in this process should be: to examine and catalogue the different databases / technological systems that the company is using. This would include: examining everything ranging from the company emails to specific databases used by the various departments. Next, you want to examine the kind of back up system that is currently being used to store all relevant data. During this part of the process, you want to think about how long it would take to recover this data and what amounts are capable of being stored. This will point you in the right direction, as far as identifying what data is important and how long it would take the company to retrieve any lost data, using the status quo.

The second step is: to begin searching for ways to address the obvious weaknesses as far as data recovery is concerned. Where, you want to increase the overall amounts of recovery time dramatically. Since the company uses its data / email system to communicate with various executives and locations around the world, means that a procedure must be in place to reduce down time as much as possible. This means that a company wide backup storage system must be stored in location that will not be effected by natural disasters or terrorist activities. One way to accomplish this objective would be to create a data storage center that is away from these different areas. Such as: choosing a location that could be in a rural area without any the different issues. Then, the overall structure of this facility would have to… READ MORE

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