IT has brought many benefits to business. However, IT failures can seriously damage your ability to deliver products and services, harm your company’s reputation, and jeopardise your relationship with your customers. In short, poorly managed IT problems could threaten the survival of your business.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity shows you how to develop a plan that will:
keep your information safe in the face of systems failure
safeguard your company from viruses, phishing scams and accidental data loss
ensure your communication links are secure, and help you stay connected when disaster strikes.
Cover
Title
Copyright
About the Author
Foreword
Preface
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Who should read this book?
What is a disaster?
What is disaster recovery (DR)?
What is business continuity (BC)?
What is Crisis Management?
Why are DR and BC important?
Who are the real owners of DR, BC, and CM?
What is the cost of a disaster?
Who are the right persons to manage DR and BC?
What is a DR or BC site?
What is a command centre?
Where should a DR or BC site be located?
Can an organisation manage DR and BC alone?
What about DR and BC assistance from external consultants?
What kinds of disaster should an organisation be aware of?
What is a technical risk?
What are some of the most common technical risks?
What are some of the most common non-technical disasters?
What is a business impact analysis (BIA)?
Who can invoke BC?
What are the options available for BC?
What is a DR or BC exercise?
What are the biggest roadblocks for DR or BC?
What are the costs of establishing a proper DR facility?
Are there any international qualifications or training for DR and BC?
Are there any international standards for BC planning?
Chapter 2: Data Disasters
What is data?
What is meant by risk to data?
Why and how do companies lose data?
How should organisations store data safely?
What are some of the most common storage and back-up options?
What is meant by Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
What is Internet back-up?
What is a ‘geocluster’?
How often should back-ups be taken, and what should be backed up?
How can one decide what data needs to be backed-up?
How and where should back-up tapes be stored?
How often should back-ups be tested?
Will taking proper data back-ups daily ensure DR?
What is ‘disk mirroring’?
What is a ‘database replication’?
What does ‘server load balancing’ mean?
How can one prevent loss of IT equipment?
On-site disaster prevention methods:
Chapter 3: Virus Disasters
What is a computer virus?
How can an organisation protect itself from viruses?
What is a worm?
What is a Trojan?
How can an organisation recover after a virus attack?
How does one update anti-virus software on all machines?
Dos and don’ts regarding viruses
What is ‘phishing’?
What about safety on mobile devices?
Chapter 4: Communication System Disasters
What are some of the common methods of communication in organisations?
What is a communication failure?
What are some of the methods for preventing Local Area Network failures?
What are some methods for preventing WAN disasters?
Dos and don’ts regarding communication systems
Chapter 5: Software Disasters
What is a software disaster?
What is a mission critical application?
What are some of the software disasters that can strike an organisation?
What are some of the best practices for software disaster prevention?
Chapter 6: Data Centre Disasters
What is a data centre?
How should a data centre be built?
What are some of the best practices to prevent disasters inside data centres?
Other precautions to prevent IT disasters
Chapter 7: IT Staff Member Disasters
Who is meant by members of IT staff?
What are the general precautions to prevent disasters relating to members of IT staff?
What is an appropriate IT member of staff ratio?
What are the usual reasons for members of IT staff disasters?
What are some of the best practices to be followed by members of IT staff?
What are the main benefits of using ITIL?
How can change management prevent disasters?
What are the other risks relating to members of IT staff?
Chapter 8: IT Contractor Disasters
What is an IT contractor-related disaster?
How can organisations protect themselves against IT vendor-related disasters?
How does one prevent IT-contractor support disasters?
Should IT staff be outsourced?
What can be outsourced?
Questions to ask vendors
Is it necessary to have contracts with vendors?
What are the key elements of a maintenance contract or an SLA?
Chapter 9: IT Project Failures
Why do IT projects fail?
How can organisations avoid IT project failures?
Chapter 10: Information Security
What is information security?
What are the various ways in which information security can be compromised?
What safeguards are available to protect information?
Chapter 11: Cyber Security Issues
What is Cyber Security?
What is hacking?
How can an organisation prevent hacking?
Exploring Cloud services
Chapter 12: Introduction to Non-IT Disasters
What are some of the non-IT disasters that could affect an organisation?
What is a human error?
What are marketing and sales errors?
What are financial disasters?
What are some of the common recruitment risks?
How do you handle fire related disasters?
What about health and biological threats to an organisation’s members of staff?
What about electrical failures and blackouts?
What precautions can an organisation take to handle civil disturbances?
How can an organisation take precaution against terrorism?
What is a travel-related risk?
What are the usual trade or labour union problems?
What about the psychological effects of a disaster on members of staff?
What is a reputational risk?
What about industrial espionage?
How can an organisation prevent a disaster relating to paper documents?
What other precautions can an organisation take?
Chapter 13: Disaster Recovery at Home
What are the main risks associated with home working?
What are some of the ways to prevent disasters occurring in homes?
Document and data management
Data back-up for standalone systems
Sample recommended solution
Chapter 14: Plenty of Questions
Questions on planning and security
Questions on technology
Questions on health and safety
Questions on financial and legal issues
Questions on people
Chapter 15: How do I get Started?
How does one start a DR or BC programme?
How do I create an actual BCP?
Common types of plans
How is an IT contingency plan prepared?
Sample IT contingency plan for a mission critical server
What is a mock run and how is it conducted?
How often should the DR or BC plan be updated?
What should a BC/DR checklist consist of?
Sample useful checklists
Appendix 1: Disaster Recovery Training and Certification
IT has brought many benefits to business. However, IT failures can seriously damage your ability to deliver products and services, harm your company’s reputation, and jeopardise your relationship with your customers. In short, poorly managed IT problems could threaten the survival of your business.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity shows you how to develop a plan that will:
keep your information safe in the face of systems failure
safeguard your company from viruses, phishing scams and accidental data loss
ensure your communication links are secure, and help you stay connected when disaster strikes.
Table of contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
About the Author
Foreword
Preface
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction to Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Who should read this book?
What is a disaster?
What is disaster recovery (DR)?
What is business continuity (BC)?
What is Crisis Management?
Why are DR and BC important?
Who are the real owners of DR, BC, and CM?
What is the cost of a disaster?
Who are the right persons to manage DR and BC?
What is a DR or BC site?
What is a command centre?
Where should a DR or BC site be located?
Can an organisation manage DR and BC alone?
What about DR and BC assistance from external consultants?
What kinds of disaster should an organisation be aware of?
What is a technical risk?
What are some of the most common technical risks?
What are some of the most common non-technical disasters?
What is a business impact analysis (BIA)?
Who can invoke BC?
What are the options available for BC?
What is a DR or BC exercise?
What are the biggest roadblocks for DR or BC?
What are the costs of establishing a proper DR facility?
Are there any international qualifications or training for DR and BC?
Are there any international standards for BC planning?
Chapter 2: Data Disasters
What is data?
What is meant by risk to data?
Why and how do companies lose data?
How should organisations store data safely?
What are some of the most common storage and back-up options?
What is meant by Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
What is Internet back-up?
What is a ‘geocluster’?
How often should back-ups be taken, and what should be backed up?
How can one decide what data needs to be backed-up?
How and where should back-up tapes be stored?
How often should back-ups be tested?
Will taking proper data back-ups daily ensure DR?
What is ‘disk mirroring’?
What is a ‘database replication’?
What does ‘server load balancing’ mean?
How can one prevent loss of IT equipment?
On-site disaster prevention methods:
Chapter 3: Virus Disasters
What is a computer virus?
How can an organisation protect itself from viruses?
What is a worm?
What is a Trojan?
How can an organisation recover after a virus attack?
How does one update anti-virus software on all machines?
Dos and don’ts regarding viruses
What is ‘phishing’?
What about safety on mobile devices?
Chapter 4: Communication System Disasters
What are some of the common methods of communication in organisations?
What is a communication failure?
What are some of the methods for preventing Local Area Network failures?
What are some methods for preventing WAN disasters?
Dos and don’ts regarding communication systems
Chapter 5: Software Disasters
What is a software disaster?
What is a mission critical application?
What are some of the software disasters that can strike an organisation?
What are some of the best practices for software disaster prevention?
Chapter 6: Data Centre Disasters
What is a data centre?
How should a data centre be built?
What are some of the best practices to prevent disasters inside data centres?
Other precautions to prevent IT disasters
Chapter 7: IT Staff Member Disasters
Who is meant by members of IT staff?
What are the general precautions to prevent disasters relating to members of IT staff?
What is an appropriate IT member of staff ratio?
What are the usual reasons for members of IT staff disasters?
What are some of the best practices to be followed by members of IT staff?
What are the main benefits of using ITIL?
How can change management prevent disasters?
What are the other risks relating to members of IT staff?
Chapter 8: IT Contractor Disasters
What is an IT contractor-related disaster?
How can organisations protect themselves against IT vendor-related disasters?
How does one prevent IT-contractor support disasters?
Should IT staff be outsourced?
What can be outsourced?
Questions to ask vendors
Is it necessary to have contracts with vendors?
What are the key elements of a maintenance contract or an SLA?
Chapter 9: IT Project Failures
Why do IT projects fail?
How can organisations avoid IT project failures?
Chapter 10: Information Security
What is information security?
What are the various ways in which information security can be compromised?
What safeguards are available to protect information?
Chapter 11: Cyber Security Issues
What is Cyber Security?
What is hacking?
How can an organisation prevent hacking?
Exploring Cloud services
Chapter 12: Introduction to Non-IT Disasters
What are some of the non-IT disasters that could affect an organisation?
What is a human error?
What are marketing and sales errors?
What are financial disasters?
What are some of the common recruitment risks?
How do you handle fire related disasters?
What about health and biological threats to an organisation’s members of staff?
What about electrical failures and blackouts?
What precautions can an organisation take to handle civil disturbances?
How can an organisation take precaution against terrorism?
What is a travel-related risk?
What are the usual trade or labour union problems?
What about the psychological effects of a disaster on members of staff?
What is a reputational risk?
What about industrial espionage?
How can an organisation prevent a disaster relating to paper documents?
What other precautions can an organisation take?
Chapter 13: Disaster Recovery at Home
What are the main risks associated with home working?
What are some of the ways to prevent disasters occurring in homes?
Document and data management
Data back-up for standalone systems
Sample recommended solution
Chapter 14: Plenty of Questions
Questions on planning and security
Questions on technology
Questions on health and safety
Questions on financial and legal issues
Questions on people
Chapter 15: How do I get Started?
How does one start a DR or BC programme?
How do I create an actual BCP?
Common types of plans
How is an IT contingency plan prepared?
Sample IT contingency plan for a mission critical server
What is a mock run and how is it conducted?
How often should the DR or BC plan be updated?
What should a BC/DR checklist consist of?
Sample useful checklists
Appendix 1: Disaster Recovery Training and Certification
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