This weekend’s news coverage of #DeltaAirlines and #Crowdstrike’s … disagreement?… about who’s responsible for the July 19 outage that Delta claims caused a half-billion dollars of damage to their business raised an interesting incident response planning question. If news reports are to be believed, Delta either never received or directly refused an offer of assistance from Crowdstrike’s during the outage that was hobbling the services of the largest commercial airline fleet in the world. This discussion isn't really about Delta or Crowdstrike: it's about how you can learn from their problem. If you have a vendor that’s deeply in your technical environment, and they are implicated as a proximate cause of serious disruption, do you actually want their help? What guidance can you get from your continuity and response plans for this? Ultimately, it’s going to be a risk management decision, balancing risk of downsides against probabilities of upsides. Organization might benefit from a short series of tabletop discussions based on variations of the reported situation between Delta and Crowdstrike. Tailored to your organization, consider each of the following realistic possible situations: 1. If the disruptions appears to have been caused by the vendor making a material error (like pushing an update that cripples millions of systems globally, but which had inadequate controls and thus did not undergo appropriate QA and testing). 2. If the disruption appears to be caused by an unforseen interaction with the specialized nature of your environment. 3. If the disruption appears to be caused by some kind of error in your organization in how you use or integrated vendor products and services. Ask yourself: is your response planning adequate to address these kinds of disruptions? Note that this isn’t really a technical problem: this is really a business decision problem. What information do your executives need to have to make an informed decision as to whether to accept the help or not, and how will you, advising on security, help facilitate them getting that information? Playing these scenarios openly and honestly can help to expose your executives’ risk tolerance, and help them to make easier, faster, and ultimately better decisions for your business.
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This should be a case study for any IT organization, impacted or not. With COVID pushing much of the workforce remote, this adds great complexity to recovery efforts. Reflecting back on this black swan event should lead organizations to bolster their vendor management processes; enhance and update their incident response plans, and make sure they are appropriately aligned with their cybersecurity framework.
In the wake of one of the biggest business disruptions, the focus should now be squarely on proactively managing risk going forward and using this as a case study for creating a more resilient organization. There has been a wave of cyberattacks in the aftermath. Assessing your incident response preparedness and plans, understanding if you should file an insurance claim, managing critical vendors and their dependencies and ultimately making sure your security posture is aligned with your business requirements. Check out RSM’s resource center for insights. https://rsm.buzz/3WC8S2m
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The recent outage caused by the CrowdStrike update has been a wake-up call for many I'm speaking with, underscoring the vital importance of robust business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) practices. This incident highlights how even the most exhaustive DR plans can't account for everything, making it clear that we must all be prepared for the unexpected. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, ensuring strong BCDR practices is more crucial than ever. At the heart of this is the goal of minimizing downtime. Unexpected disruptions can halt business operations, leading to significant financial losses. Effective BCDR strategies help ensure that critical functions can continue with minimal interruption, safeguarding the bottom line. Another critical aspect of BCDR is data protection. In an age where data is a key asset, it is paramount to safeguard it against loss, corruption, or unauthorized access. BCDR plans ensure that data can be quickly recovered and that its integrity is maintained during crises. This capability is essential not only for operational resilience but also for maintaining customer trust. Clients and customers expect reliability. Demonstrating that your business can handle disruptions smoothly enhances trust and loyalty. It shows that you are prepared, capable, and committed to delivering consistent service, even in the face of unexpected challenges. This aspect of BCDR is as much about preserving reputation as it is about operational functionality. While we cannot always predict disruptions, we can prepare for them. Investing in comprehensive BCDR practices not only safeguards your operations but also fortifies your reputation in the eyes of your customers and partners. Let’s take these recent events as a call to action to evaluate and strengthen our BCDR strategies. By doing so, we can ensure that our businesses remain resilient, no matter what challenges come our way. #BusinessContinuity #DisasterRecovery #BCDR #ITSecurity #CrowdStrike #DataProtection #RiskManagement #CustomerTrust
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In the wake of one of the biggest business disruptions, the focus should now be squarely on proactively managing risk going forward and using this as a case study for creating a more resilient organization. There has been a wave of cyberattacks in the aftermath. Assessing your incident response preparedness and plans, understanding if you should file an insurance claim, managing critical vendors and their dependencies and ultimately making sure your security posture is aligned with your business requirements. Check out RSM’s resource center for insights. https://rsm.buzz/3WC8S2m
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The Big Ten Questions for Public Companies on IT Outages for Investor Communication and Engagement 1. Preventive Measures: What specific measures are you taking to prevent IT outages in the future? 2. Operational Impact: How have your operations been affected by recent IT outages? 3. Financial Implications: What is the estimated financial impact of an outage on the company? 4. Customer Communication: What steps do you take to communicate with your customers when they are affecred by an outage? 5. Response Efficiency: How quickly are you able to identify and isolate a problem, and what was the response time to mitigate the issues? 6. Contingency Plans: What are your contingency plans for future IT-related disruptions? 7. Vendor Management: How is the company ensuring that third-party vendors, meet stringent security and reliability standards? 8. Reputation Impact: What are the potential long-term effects of this outage on your reputation and customer relationships? 9. Governance Changes: Do you have any plans to changes your IT governance and risk management frameworks? 10. Lessons Learned: What lessons have been learned from past outages, and how will they be applied to improve future operations? Addressing these questions comprehensively can help maintain investor confidence and demonstrate your company’s capability to manage and mitigate IT risks effectively. #CyberSecurity #ITOutage #InvestorRelations #RiskManagement #BusinessContinuity
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As critical infrastructure across the globe grinds to a halt, StrategicRISK speaks to risk, reputation, data and IT experts to learn what happened, what impacted organisations can do, and steps that risk managers should take to avoid similar crises in the future https://lnkd.in/eUVTixqy
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A Recovery Plan is a strategic document that outlines the procedures and steps your business must take to quickly recover from disruptions such as data loss, natural disasters, or cyberattacks. It ensures business continuity by detailing risk assessments, resource allocations, recovery objectives, and communication protocols. Stay prepared and resilient with a comprehensive Recovery Plan. #RecoveryPlan #BusinessContinuity #StayPrepared #manageditservices #cybersecuritysolutions #techsupportdeluxe #businesscontinuity #remoteworktech
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Creator & Founder 52 Risks I Strategy & Risk Advisor I Director I Former Chief Risk Officer
As expected, many companies continue to mop up the 'damage' from the Crowdstrike (an aptly named company) outage a week and a bit ago. Delta Air Lines is one of the first to quantity the cost of the event. For smaller companies it was a major inconvenience over a weekend. For others like Delta, it was a disruptive and costly incident. One client I spoke to this week had to close its medical centres when the outage occurred, cease treating patients and send them elsewhere. Potentially dangerous outcomes there. Post-incident reviews are well underway and will provide good insights to many on ways to improve further how these unfortunate events are handled. Global IT outages will continue to occur from time to time. Business leaders and risk managers need to learn to cope with the risks of the complex and interconnected world they operate in. Whilst these outages cannot be prevented, having well practiced business continuity and contingency plans goes a long way to lessening the impact of these events, when they take place. Reputation Risk, Operations & Process Risk, IT Risk, Expense Risk, and Litigation Risk are key risks under the 52 Risks® framework. #itrisk #businesscontinuity #riskmanagement #reputationrisk #enterpriseriskmanagement
Delta CEO lashes out at CrowdStrike: This cost us $500 million and they offered us nothing | CNN Business
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Ruth Promislow appeared on The Globe and Mail webcast on what companies can do to prevent, withstand and rebound from a cyberattack. More and more, companies are understanding that data breaches are going to happen, but their ability to ensure business continuity is essential. Watch the full video: https://okt.to/TNp8Su #DataProtection #CyberAttackPrevention
Data Resiliency: Safeguarding Business Through Cyberattacks | Bennett Jones
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Any disruption in your business can be costly, both in time and money. That's why it's crucial to ensure continuous operations without any pauses or delays. At Lightship IT, we specialize in helping businesses like yours develop reliable systems and processes to handle the unexpected seamlessly. Here’s how we can help: ✅Risk Assessment: We identify potential vulnerabilities in your current setup. ✅Custom Solutions: Implement systems tailored to safeguard your operations. ✅Ongoing Support: Our experts provide continuous monitoring and support. Don’t let unforeseen events disrupt your business flow. 🚀 Ready to strengthen your business continuity? Contact Lightship IT now to schedule your free consultation! 📞877-624-8247 ✉️[email protected] @https://lnkd.in/eBifYfA7 #LightshipIT #DisasterRecovery #ITSupport #TechSupport
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The recent CrowdStrike outage was a wake-up call for businesses, governments, and end users worldwide. This unprecedented event underscores the importance of robust IT infrastructure and resilience. In the face of such disruptions, it's crucial to have a comprehensive plan, from immediate response to long-term risk mitigation. Explore Gartner's guide to fortify your IT systems against similar incidents and ensure business continuity. https://lnkd.in/ei23m7je
Project Management Leader >> Global Enterprise Technologies Deployment >> Wireless IoT Projects
4moWell said!