"During Matthew, we found we didn't have enough backup power for our office building," Hill told CRN. "Since then, we have implemented and tested our power. After Matthew, we were stuck with portable generators. Now we have one installed in our building. Matthew tested us. We were out of power for a week." 

Other lessons learned from Matthew include understanding how critical cellphones are after a disaster, Hill said. "We've helped clients implement cellphone modems to maintain contact," he said.

Until Availability Zones are rolled out across more regions the only disaster recovery options you have are cross-region, hybrid-cloud or even cross-cloud asynchronous replication.

Trusted Impact is a leading security consultancy focused entirely on helping clients achieve their business objectives in the field of information security.

Their latest newsletter covers topics such as GDPR, City of Atlanta's ransomeware attack, Yahoo's million dollar fine and the Pageup data breach. Click here to download the newsletter, or here to view past newsletters and to subscribe.  

The latest report on risks and vulnerabilities by the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) shows that the securities, banking and insurance sectors in the European Union (EU) face multiple risks. And, although this report is focussed on the EU, a number of risks and vulnerabilities also apply to the Australian market. 

The latest ESA report outlines the following risks as potential sources of instability:

• Uncertainties around the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the EU; 
• Cyber attacks; and
• Sudden repricing of risk premia as witnessed by the recent spike in volatility and associated market corrections.

The ESA report also raises awareness for risks related to climate change and the transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Some of the key points from the report are:

Brexit: the ESAs recommend that EU financial institutions and their counterparties, as well as investors and retail consumers, consider timely mitigation actions to prepare for the UK's withdrawal from the EU – including possible relocations and actions to address contract continuity risks;

Cyber security: the ESAs encourage financial institutions to improve fragile IT systems, and explore inherent risks to information security, connectivity and outsourcing. To support this, the ESAs will continue addressing cyber risks for securities, banking and insurance markets and monitor firms' use of cloud computing and potential build-up of cyber risks; and 

Climate change: the ESAs recommend that financial institutions consider sustainability risk in their governance and risk management frameworks; should develop responsible, sustainable financial products; and supervisors should enhance their analysis of potential risks related to climate change for the financial sector and financial stability.

Download the report

"Energy companies have accepted the reality that digital threats can have tangible consequences. This perception is perhaps heightened by recent attacks that were specifically designed to affect physical operations and have proven capable of doing so." 

Following recent negative headlines for social media, and Facebook in particular, Databarracks’ Peter Groucutt is warning organizations not to call time on their accounts. Social media is not just for promotion; during a crisis it is often your most effective communications medium.

“The best examples of crisis management comms on social media show that proactive engagement can generate goodwill and garner more patience from the public to rectify a situation. There are some simple steps an organization can take to prepare for social media communications during an incident. Read more

An interesting reflection on the experience gained from a large number of business continuity  projects. 

Martin Caddick, FBCI, recently retired from PwC, looks at what isn’t working, and what needs to change to improve business continuity. Read more

Cybercrime is a growing industry and the finance sector is regarded a key target. Despite the growing threat and inevitability of an attack, APRA says there are still financial institutions that have not tested how they would cope with a cyber attack. 

In response to the growing threat of a cyber attack, APRA on Wednesday released its first prudential standard on information security (still in draft format), which will set minimum standards for how the sector handles cyber risks.

Institutions will be required to undertake regular testing of their cyber defences, have robust systems in place to detect threats, and set out which senior staff are responsible for cyber security. The discussion paper can be found here.

"Implementing legally binding minimum standards on information security is aimed at increasing the safety of the data Australians entrust to their financial institutions and enhance overall system stability," Mr Summerhayes said.

New York stock exchange penalised for violating their disaster recovery and business continuity requirements ... 

A study by OneLogin has found that UK businesses who provide their employees with the benefit of remote working are struggling to find a balance between productivity and security. In fact, over half of remote workers spend up to one day per week connected to unsecured networks thereby leaving organizations open to greater risk of cyber attacks. Read more

Experts are reporting that thousands of Australian businesses aren't ready to comply with the data breach mandatory notification law that kicked in from February 22. Research by cyber security specialists CyberArk concluded that as many as 44 per cent of enterprises aren't up to speed, and other security professionals are queuing up to echo the sentiment.

The new law is simple enough in principle. It's compliance in practice that will cause headaches.

If your organisation is covered by the Privacy Act, and you have other people's personal information in your care, and it ends up somewhere or with someone it shouldn't, there's a clock ticking.

The WEF met at Davos this year and the Global Risks Report 2018 was published. Seven out of eight risks in the top right quadrant are climate change related (see below)! Is it time to start addressing these risks in our business continuity plans? The full report can be found here.

Every year, the BCI in association with BSI, produces the Horizon Scan Report to track near-term threats to organisations across industry sectors globally. The study measures concerns over specific threats as reported by business continuity and resilience professionals.

The report also considers disruption caused by these threats, offering a basis of comparison between the level of perceived concern and actual incidents. You can download the report here

COMSAT, the US-based satellite connectivity provider, demonstrated the power of business continuity planning after a company facility was threatened by the recent wildfires in California.

The Thomas Fire, reported to be the largest in California state history, presented a very real threat to the day-to-day operations of the Santa Paula multi-purpose teleport facility. Owing to the preparedness of COMSAT and its local team, an efficient, well-planned contingency strategy ensured that the teleport continued serving its global network without interruption, despite the proximity of intense flames. More