We launched the weekly Continuity eGUIDE in 2003 with a vision to consolidate and communicate resources for the disciplines of BC, DR, and EM. Since then we have published over 640 editions and now publish on Wednesday twice a month. For more than 19 years we have worked to bring our industry together. It is our passion!

2022

Vol. 654 – Data Loss Statistics Paint a Picture of the Dangers for Global Organizations

December 8, 2022

The modern world runs on data, and without it, things quickly grind to a halt. Businesses use data for everything, including sales, marketing, logistics, and staffing.

What happens when that data is lost?

Author and thought leader Dale Shulmistra, 20-year industry veteran, believes that global statistics on data loss paint a very worrisome picture for organizations.

Vol. 653 – Good and Bad Advice on Cybersecurity Audits

November 17, 2022

In order to know, each organization needs to conduct and continuously update its cyber risk assessment – within the context of the enterprise risk management program so it can be compared to other sources of business risk. Many misguided consultants look to internal audit to perform the risk assessment. Author and expert Norman Marks says assessing risk and updating the assessment when it changes is a management responsibility!

Vol. 652 – 5 Red Flags When Doing a Risk Assessment

November 3, 2022

Risk assessments are probably the most common activities within the risk management profession. There is a fine line between being a total waste of time and a useful risk management approach. So what are the most common pitfalls? How to avoid them and how to turn risk assessments into a useful decision making tool? Author of popular risk management books, Alex Sidorenko, lays out five red flags that every practitioner should consider.

Vol. 651 – What Makes a Good BCM Program Governance Document?

October 20, 2022

Program governance is the framework upon which a program’s strategy is defined, agreed upon, and monitored. Have you ever wondered what compels organizations to develop these documents? Fiona Raymond-Cox unpacks this question by explaining 3 key points:
– The benefits of a program governance document
– How to develop a program governance document
– How to keep program governance current

Vol. 650 – 10 Lessons for Business Leaders from Hurricane Fiona

October 6, 2022

As Florida is in the midst of hurricane response and recovery from catastrophic Ian, we think it important to share a timely and relevant article from Forbes’ senior contributor Edward Segal. Segal lays out a compelling case: Corporate executives could learn a thing or two about leadership and crisis management from how the federal government and local authorities prepared for and responded to Hurricane Fiona. The article includes information about the proactive steps FEMA took prior to the hurricane.

Vol. 649 – Just How Resilient is Your Organization?

September 28, 2022

The last few years have seen massive change: implementing work from home, improving digital capabilities, pivoting sales & supply channels, and adjusting business models.

Back by popular demand, we feature an article from expert Dan Swanson. In the future, organizations will need to be resilient in order to succeed. Dan has more than 35 years of experience in audit and information security. His meaty article guides executives on how to evaluate their organizations.

Vol. 648 – The Importance of a Human Resources Commitment to Business Continuity

September 8, 2022

In today’s world, all organizations in an enterprise environment need to work together to create a holistic response to a disaster event. For many years, groups like operations, information technology and finance have been key focal for points for preparing for events. Lately, there seems to have been a greater focus on the some of the internal business management groups of many companies – including human resources, personnel and other similarly employee focused departments within a company. Ralph Petti explains.

Vol. 647 – What Does Good Look Like, for Information Technology and Cyber?

August 18, 2022

Recently industry subject matter expert Steve Yates was in a conversation with a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) discussing the organization’s IT / Cyber communications when the conversation moved to a request from one of their customers for provision of 100% Availability. The ultimate goal in technology, 100% availability (high availability), requires no outages, no failures, and no downtime across the entire service architecture and infrastructure. For this to be delivered there can be no single points of failure. Read Steve’s insights on this ongoing concern for every business.

Vol. 646 – Why Cybersecurity and Physical Security Need to Work Together

August 4, 2022

The convergence of cybersecurity and traditional physical security has never been simple, mostly because the skill sets necessary for each discipline are so different. CISOs tend to come from the IT side of the organization while CSOs are often either from the security side, former law enforcement, or former military. It can be hard to find a leader with both the technical skills and the physical security mindset needed to bring the two together. Proven security services leader Michael Martin shares insights on how to address the physical security risk to cyber networks.

Vol. 645 – The Rogers Outage – What can MSPs and customers do?

July 22, 2022

On Friday, July 8, beginning at 4:44 am EDT, Rogers Communications, Canada’s largest mobile and internet provider, suffered a catastrophic outage. More than 11 million customers including banks, ATMs, managed service providers, hospitals and emergency service hotlines were impacted. One SMB customer, impacted for 2 days by the outage, asked their MSP some hard questions. Follow the conversation and engage in the discussion as to what the customer and the vendor could do differently in the future.

Vol. 644 – Reputational Risk: Slow to Build, Quick to Lose

July 7, 2022

Reputational risk is the damage that can occur to a business when it fails to meet the expectations of its stakeholders and is thus negatively perceived. It can affect any business, regardless of size or industry. This threat is real for all organizations — large corporations, small businesses as well as government agencies and non-profits. Andy Ziegler shares personal lessons and simple steps that can help protect your company’s reputation as you respond to a crisis.

Vol. 643 – Recalibrating Active Shooter Preparedness Plans for Today’s Threats

June 16, 2022

The active shooter threat is dynamic and complex. There is a clear upward trend in the number of active shooter incidents each year. Leaders and decision-makers must understand and anticipate the entire lifecycle of an active shooter incident, not simply plan or train for the minutes of terror between ‘shots fired’ and ‘shooter down’. Steve Crimando, with more than 30 years of frontline field experience, outlines seven steps and 3 phases to mature an organization’s active shooter plans.