Disaster Software Recovery Plan - Assignment Example

Disaster Recovery Plan al Affiliation) SECTION DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN Introduction The main purpose of this document isto address the main risk factors that may influence Acme National Bank of America together with its branches that are located in various locations in in the United States of America. Disaster Definition The plan acknowledges and recognizes a disaster as a disruption that might hinder the optimal functionality of IT systems in Acme National Bank of America. The organization identifies the following factors as being major causes of disasters and states the adoption and implementation of the current document in the event that the organization receives the following attacks: 1. Malfunctioning software 2. Workstations and servers malfunctions 3. Failed hard drives 4. Large-scale natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes 5. Office fires 6. Computer virus outbreaks 7. Power outages caused by winter storm 8. Terrorist attacks Scope The DRP formulated by Acme National Bank of America pays particular consideration to the following elements that are key in the implementation and operation of the IT infrastructure 1. IT Documentation 2. Database Systems 3. End-user computers 4. Organization Software Systems 5. Server Infrastructure 6. Network Infrastructure Disaster Recovery Teams and Responsibilities Various teams will be called upon to come to aid of the IT department in the event of occurrence of a disaster. Different groups will be allocated different responsibilities to regain the optimum state of the operating system in the business environ. TEAM ROLE Communications Team Computer virus outbreaks Applications Team Malfunctioning software Disaster Recover Leads Failed hard drives Facilities Team Workstations malfunctions Server Team servers malfunctions Operations Team Office fires Management Team Power outages caused by winter storm Disaster management Team Large-scale natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes SECTION 2 DRP ANALYSIS Objectives of the ANBA DRP Acme National Bank of America is a bank that comprises of a variety of branches at different areas of the United States of America. It therefore becomes important for the institution to be able to have a disaster recovery plan in place to be able to take care of any forms of unforeseen eventualities that may arise in the course of the various business processes (Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012). The disaster recovery plan is therefore subdivided into general objectives and specific objectives which are able to be implemented in the business in the event that various threats are faced. General objectives The plan ensures that all the visitor and employees are guaranteed of their safety once they are at the business premise. Employee safety has become one of the most vital things discussed and considered in the Company Acts that majority of the companies are expected to comply to in the course of their operations (Berke, Cooper, Aminto, Grabich & Horney, 2014). It therefore becomes of ‘fundamental importance that Acme National Bank of America develops strategies aimed at protecting the employees and the visitors against any harms that may arise from any processes. The plan also aims at the protection of records and information against external access thereby jeopardizing the business operations and the safety of the employees and the clients. Banks are known to contain vital information in their databases. Apart from the financial transactions and the value and net worth of the individuals who have invested in a particular bank, there are various other repositories that need to be safeguarded against malicious attacks and threats by third party tools through processes like foot printing. It becomes important to develop security controls which are updated in order for the company to have the capacity to tame current attacks (Olshansky, Hopkins & Johnson, 2012). Attacks that have been developed for the purpose of attacking banking systems. The security of the business facilities and sites also becomes important as a general objective of the DRP. The business can be prone to attacks which might be internally propagated or a causative factor of external attacks. Fires can be a common phenomenon which can destroy major business assets. It therefore becomes important for the disaster recovery plan to address how the company is going to deal with fire outbreaks and how it can be able to protect the most basic and fundamental assets in the organization. The banking industry comprises of various supplies which may be prone to fires (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). Therefore, the vital materials and supplies have to be kept in storage facilities which can with stand any forms of attacks that may arise. Banking records become the most important assets which have to be protected. The DRP contains practices to be adopted by the employees to reduce the risk of occurrence of disasters that may arise because of human errors, intentional or deliberate destruction. Finally, equipment failures may also be addressed in the plan (Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012). Key ways in which ANBA’s DRP can help mitigate risk in the organization Risk can be mitigated by the DRP since it prepares the organization on how to handle a disaster and the possible causes of any form of disaster before the actual occurrence. It therefore becomes important for the organization to have contingency measures that address the possible causes of risk and disasters that may arise (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). The preparedness of an organization for a catastrophe minimizes the wastage of resources that may be involved in the counter actions. It becomes important for the organization to have the necessary tools and enough budgetary allocations for the resultant process. The DRP contains a series of instructions and basic precautionary set of rules which employees are expected to adopt in their daily practices and business operations in order to maintain the optimal operation without the arising of any form of risks(Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). It becomes a form.in which the organisation sensitizes the employees on the ways that different disasters can be prevented. The DRP acts as an audit document through which the organization accesses its preparedness with regards to risks. It enables the organisation to inspect their current structures and be able to improve them and seal the loopholes that may exist(Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012). The particular process makes it easy and swift to implement preventive measures which can save the organisation from various threats and attacks that may arise from within and without the organisation. The formulation of the DRP document is based on previous attacks that have affected the organisation or the rise of business threats targeting key markets such as the banking sector. Through the document, previous recovery measures are assessed through the sequential risk management documents filed and a build instigated to handle any challenges that may arise there of. The presence of the particular history is able to equip the personnel with skills to effectively handle challenges of the same nature (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). The need for DRPs in an enterprise organization such as ANBA Organizations such as ANBA are always subject to external attacks by entities with malicious and ill intentions. Different forms of attacks are always crafted in the form of in-house attacks such as fires or external attacks such as virus programs and other foot printing technologies that promote phishing. Financials are of a particular interest to majority of the unethical hackers who seek to crush the operations of the banking entity to achieve self-interest and gains (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). Banking institutions such as ANBA must incorporate in their systems a Disaster Recovery plan bearing the fact that it operates from a distributed architecture. The presence of the different branches of the bank in different regions of the United States of America make it important for the institution to have a coordinated system which ensures that the operations are disrupted in any form or sort. The institution needs the Disaster Recovery Plan as a measure to be able to retain the customer faith and confidence in the case that any forms of attacks occurs(Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012). This document is also to be implemented in the other subsequent branches to ensure synchrony in the banking processes and procedures. Organisations such as the ANBA are known to implement current security controls both physical and logical. The specific requirements are captured in the Disaster Recovery Plans when risks the entity has faced are assessed. The document therefore acts as a guide in capturing the system functionalities and requirements that may be adopted (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). Banking institutions market themselves through various ways such as customer assurance of the safe methods of preservation of their savings and other valuable items. The customer also needs to know how the bank intends to protect their assets when attacked (Osofsky & Osofsky, 2013). The document therefore guarantees confidence to customers and may contribute to increase in sales and optimum operations. Difference between the elements of the DRP between branches of a multinational organization The DRP varies from branch to branch depending on the technologies adopted and the amount of operations and services it offers. One branch may be keen on having strong doors and security personnel deployed since its in a region prone to attacks. The other branches may lessen the physical security controls and implement stronger firewalls due to previous experiences with cyber attackers and hackers (Alhazmi & Malaiya, 2012). The organisations have consolidated operations but face different business risks and challenges. However, it becomes necessary that the branches adopt similar structures addressed in the DRD to cover all the business risks that can be faced. References Alhazmi, O. H., & Malaiya, Y. K. (2012). Assessing disaster recovery alternatives: On-site, colocation or cloud. In Software Reliability Engineering Workshops (ISSREW), 2012 IEEE 23rd International Symposium on (pp. 19-20). IEEE. Berke, P., Cooper, J., Aminto, M., Grabich, S., & Horney, J. (2014). Adaptive planning for disaster recovery and resiliency: An evaluation of 87 local recovery plans in eight states. Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(4), 310-323. Olshansky, R. B., Hopkins, L. D., & Johnson, L. A. (2012). Disaster and recovery: Processes compressed in time. Natural Hazards Review, 13(3), 173-178. Osofsky, J. D., & Osofsky, H. J. (2013). Lessons learned about the impact of disasters on children and families and post-disaster recovery. In Child and Family Advocacy (pp. 91-105). Springer New York. Read More