Author: Chris Goodeve-Ballard
The day has arrived that to many of us was once unthinkable. I was a soldier in the early 80s and the idea of Russian forces pouring over the border was an interesting abstract that we were constantly preparing for but weren’t entirely convinced would happen. After all, it would disturb the whole fun of being in the Army. Maybe, we all knew that if it did happen, it wouldn’t be at all pleasant and so we parked the reality at the back of our heads.
Well, it has now happened and has suddenly become very thinkable.
I’m no longer a soldier (and haven’t been for a very long time) but preparation for the possible fallout from yesterday’s events in Ukraine is still, albeit in a different way, part of my remit.
The risk of cyber-attacks on Western infrastructure is now very real indeed. It doesn’t matter who you are or what size your organisation is, you could be affected. You may not be the direct target, but you could quite easily become collateral damage.
At Aldbury International, we have seen many firms who have all their data secured in the Cloud. Not so helpful if you can’t reach it and pluck it out of the Cloud. At the very least, many small firms can keep paper records of key client information and the like. Data can also be kept on an isolated PC with no connection to the internet. It might not always be bang up to date but it sure as hell beats having no data at all.
This is the very lowest of low hanging fruit to ensure your firm’s resilience in the event of something going catastrophically wrong.
The PRA and FCA are talking about severe but plausible scenarios. The bar has just shifted on the meaning of plausible.
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