Businesses need to be prepared for various types of disruption that range from natural disasters to the latest and most complex forms of cyber-attacks. Business Continuity Planning, or BCP in short form, and Disaster Recovery Planning, or DRP, are the basis for essential frameworks through which an organization continues to conduct business and rapidly recover from such disruptions.
This paper will outline the general BCP and DRP processes and interrelations, types of disruptive events an organization may face, and major steps in the development of effective BCP and DRP strategies.
Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Business Continuity Planning involves a proactive process to ensure the continuity of a business with regard to its most essential functions during and after the disaster. BCP involves strategies that minimize the effect of disruptions on operations to ensure that essential services are upheld.
Important Elements of BCP
- Risk Assessment: Identifying those risks that could disrupt the operations.
- Business Impact Analysis: The process of studying the consequences of disruptions on business processes and establishing priorities in recoveries.
- Continuity Strategies: The process of planning operations continuance, resource allocation, and establishment of communication protocols.
Real-Life Example: BCP of a Retail Chain
A major retail chain company in the United States implements a BCP in anticipation of supply chain disruptions caused by natural calamities. The plan aims to seek alternative methods of sourcing, communicate such plans with its suppliers, and provide training programs to its employees to help the stores continue their business even during calamities.
Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)
Disaster Recovery Planning specifically provides plans and procedures that outline the recovery of IT systems and data in case of disruption. DRP is a part of BCP; it delineates the procedures to be utilized when restoring critical technology infrastructures and applications.
Some key elements of DRP include:
- Recovery Objectives: Identification of RTOs and RPOs in support of conducting recoveries effectively.
- Backup Solutions: Data backup solutions may be in various forms, including but not limited to offsite storage or cloud backup solutions.
- Restoration Procedures: Creating step-by-step plans for the restoration of systems and data after an event has occurred.
Real-World Application: DRP in a Financial Institution
A financial organization creates a complete DRP, making routine backups of customer data to a secure offsite facility. When the organization suffers a ransomware attack that encrypts its main data center, it rapidly restores operations from backup systems at another location and limits its overall hours of downtown, thereby preserving customer trust.
Relationship between BCP and DRP
While BCP and DRP vary in processes, they are interlinked and may even complement each other in practice in the following ways:
- Integration: Successful business continuity depends upon sound disaster recovery plans. Unless an organization has a good DRP in place, it is most likely that the restoration of IT operations considered critical will take more time than anticipated.
- Common Objectives: Both these plans aim to reduce downtime and ensure speedy resurrection; however, they differ in scope: BCP is about the overall business process, whereas DRP pertains to the IT systems.
Example: Coordinated Response
For example, in the event of a significant flooding event, a company might invoke its BCP that allows employees to work from home while invoking its DRP to restore access to business-critical applications housed in their data center. In short, this integrated approach gives confidence in both operational continuity and IT recoverability.
Disasters or Disruptive Events
Organizations are vulnerable to a variety of different types of disruptive events that can affect operations:
- Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes, etc
- Technological Failures: Hardware failure, software bugs, system outage.
- Cybersecurity Events: Breaches in cyber data, ransomware, or denial-of-service attacks.
- Human-Induced Actions: Terrorism, vandalism, or workplace violence.
Practical Scenario: Hurricane Preparedness
A logistics company creates a hurricane contingency plan which includes the locking down of warehouse locations, seeking and using alternative transport routes, and notifying customers about expected delays.
The Disaster Recovery Process
The disaster recovery process is similarly composed of a few major steps:
- Preparation: Formulation of the DRP with explicit goals and procedures.
- Response: Involves swift activation of the plan following a disruptive event.
- Recovery: Systems and data are restored according to the procedures developed.
- Review: Reviews of the incident are performed after it occurs to highlight deficiencies in the plan.
Case Scenario: Implementing the Disaster Recovery Process
An organization has a DRP that launches operations on backup generators once a power outage arises due to severe weather conditions, while IT teams begin recovering affected systems from backups stored in the cloud.
Building a BCP/DRP
BCP and DRP development could be summarized as a multi-step process;
- Project Initialization: Initiation involves the formation of a workgroup that shall develop the plans. The membership of this workgroup should be representative of the various functional areas so that the whole business is represented.
- Scoping the Project: Scoping deals with identifying the scope of the business functions within which the plans are to be formulated. This will ensure that no major business area has not been left out in formulating the plans.
- Identifying the Critical Status: It helps in prioritizing efforts when there has been disruption as to which functions are vital for the end operations of business.
Conduct Business Impact Analysis
A BIA entails the analysis of how different kinds of disruptions would affect various functions within business. These analyses help identify critical processes, which would need urgent attention during recovery efforts.
Identify Preventive Controls
An organization should identify preventive controls that reduce risks associated with potential disruptions. This may include taking the required measures for redundancy or enhancing physical security.
Recovery Strategy
The development of recovery strategies involves creating a detailed plan for the restoration of each critical function subsequent to an event.
Related Plans
In addition to BCP and DRP, an organization should focus on related plans that help in strengthening or guaranteeing resiliency in general in case of disruptions. This may be done through the utilization of communications plans or crisis management plans.
Plan Approval
Finally, approval from senior management will ensure that all stakeholders are on board regarding the continuity strategies of the organization.
Conclusion
Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning stand at the very core of any organization that desires to continue operations during disruptive events. Understanding their components, interrelationships, and processes for development allows IT security professionals to take necessary steps that will enable their organizations to be prepared for whatever eventuality may come their way.