When 9/11 attacks were continuously aired, the world watched in disbelief and horror at the disaster caused by evil minds. Not only was there total devastation, thousands of innocent lives were cut short. Destruction of this magnitude had not been experienced since the 90s in the
As the immediate shock of the event faded, people began to realise the colossal economic loss from the occurrence. (Loss by the destruction of the WTC stood at $30.5 billion.) Entire offices along with their equipments, computers and invaluable business data were totally wiped out. The collapsing walls shattered the much-burnt computers leaving no scope for data recovery. Many businesses were unable to recover, for they had lost the crucial data on which their business depended. These large numbers of bankrupt businesses had an undue impact on the economy.
Impact of Data Loss on Businesses and Economy
The loss was not just a one-time occurrence from rebuilding destroyed offices. Its repercussions were felt for long. Thousands of people lost their jobs. September 11 attacks resulted in a loss of 83,100 jobs. Bankrupt businesses and job loss resulted in a direct loss to the tax department which immediately affected the economic budget. (Reduction in tax revenues induced by the 9/11 attacks stood at $ 3 billion and the bulk of it was from non property taxes.) Any impact on the fiscal budget sets in motion a disruption in the economic growth cycle. Growth rate reduction draws in lower taxes and thus perpetuates the cycle of loss.
Such widespread data loss devastated people thoroughly. These economic losses had their emotional repercussions on both the employers and employees. People experienced emotions ranging from shocked disbelief to anxiety. These emotional costs resulted in a loss of productivity. Such all encompassing loss induced the realisation of business vulnerability.
Impact of Natural Calamities on Business Data
Data protection is extremely important and the attacks of 9/11 helped prove the point. Apart from terrorist attacks, data is susceptible to other natural calamities also like, floods, fire, earthquakes, accidental building collapse, cyclone, volcanic eruptions, etc.
Natural calamities or terrorist attacks are rare and just account for 3% of the lost data. However, the loss is usually enormous in its magnitude. Computers get totally destroyed, resulting in permanent erasure of data. National economies reel under such losses. Such eventualities highlight the necessity of disaster recovery planning. In fact, every company should formulate a disaster recovery plan in its inception. Such planning puts in practise, the adage, ‘being forewarned is being forearmed.’ The experience of 9/11 attacks has necessitated disaster recovery planning to be made mandatory for all large companies in the
Disaster Recovery Planning
Companies are expected to envision disasters and come up with adequately appropriate plans to tackle the effects of such unforeseen eventualities. A pre prepared plan is a precautionary move that helps minimise the effects of a disaster. Advanced preparation makes it possible to immediately resume mission critical operations preventing business loss or bankruptcy. The disaster recovery plan is also known as contingency planning or business continuity planning.
Though, every organisation does some sort of planning, it is becoming necessary that these plans are kept updated. Businesses are becoming increasingly complicated and are being carried out through computers, networks and other devices and systems. Plans have to reflect the preparation made, to meet the exigencies of the changing scenario.
When I start my own company, I will prioritise formulating a disaster recovery plan. The size of my business establishment would be definitely small and any calamity would bring in enormous loss that might force business closure. 6 out of 10 companies close within two years of a natural calamity.
My disaster recovery plan would be based on the patterns of consumer spending following a calamity. If my company were to deal in basic necessities, profits would increase following a calamity. However, those dealing in luxurious goods would be affected by an immediate drop in demand. I would set aside at least 25% of my resources to handle exigencies. This amount would supplement the insurance money I would receive to put my business, back on path to recovery.
Contingency planning is vital, and this fact has been highlighted repeatedly, by the much publicised cases of business loss following the 9/11 attacks. Yet, few companies have come up with a proper DR plan and half the organisations have not tested the validity of their plans. In other words they are not sure of their plan workability. A non workable plan is as good as no plan.
Computer forensics (or digital forensics) experts can examine a hard drive to determine whether there has been unauthorised interference with the disk (i.e. hacking).