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Is
Your Business Prepared to Overcome a Computer Disaster? You
can’t always prevent a disaster but you can prevent the resulting
devastation to your business. Every business needs to determine
how prepared they need to be for a disaster. Whether it’s as simple
as a critical file being unintentionally deleted or the extreme of the office
being destroyed by fire, submerged in flood or broken into – only you know
how long your business can afford to be without its technology. With
the proper plan in place, you can have peace of mind that if something
should happen, your business will survive until things get back to normal. This
checklist was prepared for the small business that: - heavily relies
on technology to carry out their core business functions;
- understands
how costly downtime caused by technical failure can be to their business;
- know
they need, and want to have, an adequate plan in place to overcome the inevitability
of human or system errors within their technical environment.
Just
check the appropriate boxes in the following sections, to the best of your ability
and you see how prepared your business is. “70%
of companies who suffer serious data loss
go out of business within 12 months” BACKUPS
| Why does your business
need them? To recover its critical data files if they are
lost due to accidental deletion, corruption, sabotage, hardware failure, or more
extreme occurrences such as fire, theft, or flood |
Are
You Prepared? |
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| We backup business critical data and our software applications
to a floppy, CD-Rom, DVD, Zip Drive, tape drive or external hard drive. |
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| Our data is being backed up as frequently as it is
being changed (daily, weekly, bi-weekly) |
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| We check the backup results log regularly to make
sure the backups were successful. |
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| We verify that the backup media (i.e. tape, CD-ROM, DVD, etc) is functioning
by recovering some sample data from it regularly. |
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| Our backup device is being cleaned regularly. |
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| We know that the backups are getting done because
they are automatic. |
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| We rotate our backup media so we can recover data from different points in
time (i.e. yesterday, one week ago, one month ago) |
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| We keep our backups off-site in a safe and secure
location in the event of fire, flood or theft. |
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| We backup all our employees’ user account information
held on the server, so we don’t have to recreate them all. |
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| We have backups of configurations for routers and/or
firewalls that provide Internet access. |
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| We have backups of our phone system configuration.
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| We have a backup
recovery manual that includes procedures to recover business critical data, passwords,
list of emergency contacts, Internet access details, etc. This recovery
manual is stored on-site and off-site with step-by-step instructions on how to
recover the data in the event it is lost. |
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“Human error and hardware failure
account for 76% of all data loss.” HARDWARE FAILURE
| It’s not a matter of if it happens,
but when. Most hardware components have moving parts, which are likely
to fail over time. As such, it’s important to take precautions so that a
single failure doesn’t have the opportunity to cripple your business. |
Are
You Prepared? |
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| Our server(s) are in a well-ventilated area, protected
from extreme heat and dust. |
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| Our server(s) and critical systems are plugged into an uninterrupted power
supply to protect against power surges. |
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| We have mirrored hard drives so that if one fails,
the system will switch to another, and my business can continue to function. |
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| We have dual power supplies as well as network cards,
so that if one fails, my system can switch to the other and continue to function.
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| HARDWARE LOSS
Losing your hardware because of theft,
fire or flood isn’t likely to happen, but it’s possible.
If it does happen, the time without access to your technology could have repercussions
that you will feel for some time to come. Reduce the risk by having a plan in
place that enables you to resume core business functions, almost immediately,
until your hardware is replaced. |
Are You Prepared?
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| We have sufficient hardware located off-site (i.e.
manager’s home) that we can access to restore our business critical data,
and applications. As a result, we have the ability to keep the essential
components of our business running until replacement hardware can be installed.
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| “Data
loss cost US businesses in excess of 18 billion dollars in 2003.” INTERNAL
CONTROLS
Who can access your data?
Have
you pre-planned your system to keep sensitive, confidential files away from employees
that shouldn’t see them? Are you minimizing exposure to internal theft
and destruction of critical business data? |
Are You
Prepared? |
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| We have taken precautions to ensure that employees
do not have access to confidential and sensitive data files unless their role
requires it. |
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| We
have a process in place that ensures that internal and remote user access is terminated
immediately upon an employee’s departure. |
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NETWORK SECURITY – VIRUS DEFENCE
We all know that viruses are out there
and a new one is born every day.
Their effects
can range from annoying to destructive. Stay on the defensive. |
Are
You Prepared? |
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| We have anti-virus software from a well-known and respected
company installed on all computer systems, and our server(s). |
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| We keep our anti-virus software current by downloading
the latest updates, either automatically or manually, at regular intervals (daily
or weekly). |
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| Our
anti-virus program conducts regular, scheduled system scans for infected files
(daily or weekly). |
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| Our anti-virus program is configured to scan all files when they are opened,
for potential viruses. |
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| NETWORK
SECURITY – EXTERNAL ATTACKS
Hackers. Some are people while
others are computer programs.
They both scan
the internet looking for vulnerable computers or networks so they can do anything
from take control of your system and steal your data (i.e. e-mail lists, customer
data, etc), or use one of your computers to launch an attack on other systems.
Don’t let them into your business. |
Are
You Prepared? |
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Yes |
No |
Unsure |
| Our network internet access device has an effective
firewall to protect our office computers and servers against hacker attacks.
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| Our laptop users,
when working outside of the office, have adequate firewall software installed
to protect against hacker attacks. |
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If you’re like most small to medium-sized businesses, you’ve
identified some areas on this checklist that need to be improved upon or, at the
very least, revisited.
We have helped many companies develop and implement
continuity planning to defend themselves against, and overcome technical disasters.
We have helped managers and owners of companies get over the worries of day to
day management of the company technology so that they can concentrate on business. This
is what the Technical Action Group does and we do it very well. If
you know, or suspect that your company does not have an adequate plan in place
and would like to know what it would take to get you there, CALL
US TODAY FOR A FREE ONE HOUR CONSULTATION. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph
Stoll is the founder and president of The Technical Action Group Inc. (TAG)
that helps small to medium-sized companies that depend on computer systems to
conduct their business. By TAG assuming the burden of managing their technology
and keeping all systems running at their optimum, these companies can stay focused
on their core business. For more information please visit
http://www.TechnicalActionGroup.com
or email JStoll@TechnicalActionGroup.com
.
NOTE: You may “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete
and unaltered (including the “ABOUT THE AUTHOR” information), and send a copy
of the reprint to
JStoll@TechnicalActionGroup.com
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