Free Data Recovery. Essay Sample

Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning

Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning
There have been several bombings in London and Britain at large that has always been perpetrated by the IRA (Kelly, 1993). However, the most prominent and one that is still curved in many hearts are the 1992 bombings. In that year the IRA planned two attacks in the capital that caused huge damages and loss of lives.
In April of 1992, a massive truck bomb was planted by the IRS in London’s financial district. The bomb kills only three but causes excessive damage estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds. Two weeks later, IRA struck yet again killing one and leaving behind a huge damage and losses in the financial district (Kelly 1993).
Reports indicate that the Irish Republican Army planted the bombs as a protest to the deployment of British troops in Northern Ireland. Their target was to paralyze business in the economically vibrant financial district in London. Many high end business and financial institutions are located in the financial district of London. The attack was aimed at bringing the businesses in the district to a standstill. Many businesses were indeed brought to a standstill for over four hours with others closing up for more than four days (Kelly, 1993). Those at a greater loss were businesses without concrete business continuity and recovery plans and strategies in place.
According to Coaffee (2000), the bombing specifically targeted the Baltic exchange on St. Mary Axe. This caused a damage of approximately 800 million pounds the highest to have been recorded in the history of IRA bombings hitherto. In order to get back to business most of these businesses had to employ business recovery and continuity strategies available at that time.Baltic Exchanges one of the most affected victims sold the premise to another company for renovation due to the associated expenses (Coaffee, 2000).

Business Continuity and Recovery Plans Employed.

Recovery and business continuity plans are basically the processes that are employed to help the organization to prepare for disruptive events such as terrorism (Doughty, 2000). Terrorism, affects many business as was the case in this particular attack. In order to manage the risk associated with such disasters, businesses must take into account the possible sources of a terror attack, the types and consequences of various attacks, the exposure of human and other resources, the possible damage that can be caused by the attack and whether it is bound to have a long-term effect on the business (Doughty, 2000).
The disaster and recovery plans employed during this tragedy were based on the previous terrorist attacks experienced in the country. The systems mainly relied on the back up data and sites and the internet technology to allow recovery of business process and data and consequently allow the business to continue without interruption of customer service (Doughty, 2000).

During this bombing, piles of paper were blow off windows of buildings surrounding the affected building (Kelly, 1993). This signified loss of information and data, however a system backup of the files and information were kept at remote sites to facilitate recovery. It took four hours to restore affected infrastructure such as electricity and telephone lines. On the other hand it took several days to relocate employees, remaining and new infrastructure such as computers and printers among other facilities to a new site (Coaffee, 2000).

Staff and Work Area Recovery.

It is also important to note that no organization plans for the loss of key personnel, infrastructure and extended systems and facilities (Doughty, 2000). For these cases, the organization should be prepared for such eventualities by identifying possible threats to the company, identifying the target and the intention and always insuring against such fatalities. In this case, most affected businesses in the attack. Incidentally, the attack occurred during a weekend, hence there was less casualties in the busy financial district (Kelly, 1993).
After the attack, the office premises were rendered inhabitable and therefore needed reconstruction. The city officials however maintained that the architectural outlook of the destroyed Baltic exchange building be rebuilt (Coaffee, 2000). This needed more time and costs, therefore, employees and other resources were relocated to ensure business continuity as the reconstruction works continued. Essential services and business processes were carried out from remote locations and customer care calls were redirected to call centers with experienced personnel (Doughty, 2000).

The Aftermath.

As a result of the bombing, many companies in the financial district opted to change their working norms and drew-up plans to address any future eventualities. Risk managers in many companies including the affected companies decided to employ the information security policies to safeguard information. This involved policies such as the clear desk policy at the end of every working day. Additionally, the attack prompted the major players including the British and American financial companies to invest in more robust and reliable disaster recovery plans (Graham & Kaye, 2006).
In conclusion, it can be noted that the events of the 1992 attack at the financial district acted as an ignition towards engagement of better business continuity and recovery plans in the world. As a result many companies and organization based in cities and towns were well prepared to address the after math of the September 11 attack. The 1992 attack led most organizations to double their recovery and business continuity plans (Graham & Kaye, 2006).

References.

Coaffee, J. (2000). Fortification, fragmentation and the threat of terrorism in the City of London in the 1990s. Landscapes of defence, London: Prentice Hall, 114-29.
Doughty, K. (Ed.). (2000). Business continuity planning: protecting your organization's life. CRC Press.
Graham, J., & Kaye, D. (2006). A risk management approach to business continuity: Aligning business continuity with corporate governance. Rothstein Associates Inc.
Kelly, O. The IRA threat to the City of London'(1993). Policing, 9, 88.