Category: Articles
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in a Time of War
The recent Russia/Georgia conflict made me wonder last night how prepared businesses, which are located in so called political hot spots, are when it comes to the continuation, and subsequent restoration, of their business when faced with a regional, national or international military conflict. Living in North America the thought of an invasion by a foreign power is low on my list of threats to think about managing. However, if you live in Georgia (the country, not the state) or Estonia, it is a threat to the operation of your business that you probably wished you could have planed for.
Can we, as information security practitioners, really hope to build a business continuity plan (BCP) that would allow us to keep our business running in a time of war? How could you plan to move operations to a cold/warm/hot site if its located in the same town/city/country/region? Could you draft a disaster recovery (DR) plan to ensure the restoration of your business operations? What makes you think that you’ll be able to get the hardware/software/people/location/internet/power needed to get your business back up in a timely manner?
I know most will argue that keeping your business going in a time of war is very low on the priority list and that human life is a greater concern. I completely agree. The fact is, however, that business continuity is a requirement of business operations and we must, during our risk exercises, plan for the worst case scenario. I think that war is really the worst case scenario but I have yet to see a BCP/DR that has a section on “Dealing with Armed Conflict“.
Andrew Hay, Now With 100% More CISSP
If you couldn’t guess by the title of this blog post, I have indeed passed by CISSP certification exam (phew). I always reserve my judgement on the usefulness of particular certifications until I actually sit down and attempt them (unlike some people in the industry — you know who you are). Was it worth it? I believe it was. Due to the scope of the exam I forced myself to learn aspects of security that I had neither the reason, nor the desire, to understand. I feel that I have grown as a security professional because of my studies and hope that I can help others with the things that I have learned.
I’d like to give a shout out those people (you know who you are) who either helped me or reassured me that I would succeed. Thanks everyone!
10 Commandments of Airplane Etiquette – Part 1 of 2
The following post has nothing to do with security but should serve as a reminder if you’re traveling to a security conference or meeting in the near future:
1) Thou shalt not plan to go to the bathroom (especially Number 2) on the plane instead of taking the time to go at the airport prior to boarding.
Come on people…it’s really not that nice a place to go to the bathroom. It’s small, it’s cramped, and it smells funny. They have bathrooms at terminal for a reason. There is nothing worse than having to sit across from the toilet after someone dropped a dingo before takeoff.
2) If thou art too old, weak, or short to sit in the exit row thou shalt give up your seat to the 6’4″ gentleman that can’t sit comfortably in the regular seats.
Let’s review…most planes were built in the 1950’s-1970’s. Aparently, during this period in history, our entire civilization was made up of 5’0″ / 100lb humans that could easily travel in “spacious airline accommodations”. Guess what…there’s people who are taller than 5’0″ and heavier than 100lbs. How about we accommodate them for a change?
3) Thou shalt not talk the ear off of the person who is trying VERY HARD to ignore you.
You know who you are. You’re the person who didn’t bring a book to read, doesn’t have an iPod, or just likes to talk the entire flight. If the person beside you inserts their headphones into their ears that means that the conversation is over.
4) Thou shalt not unbuckle your seatbelt and start to get your luggage from the overhead compartment before the pilot tells you to.
Are you that important that waiting 30 seconds is going to kill you? I didn’t think so.
5) Thou shalt not try to recline your seat if you notice that the 6’4″ gentleman behind you has his knees flush with the back of your seat.
I think I’m actually getting a headache from the blinding rage I feel when I think about how many people have done this to me. I can remember one older gentleman telling me that I should really find another seat so that he could recline his seat in front of me. He then proceeded to ask the flight attendant where I could be moved too. Grrrrrr…..
And with that last one I’ll stop my post and continue with Part 2 next week. I have another flight out to Seattle (12hrs of flights, layovers, etc.) so I’m sure I’ll have more commandments to share.