Faster Disaster Recovery

CHAPTER 12Computer Systems: Disaster Prevention and Recovery

There’s an old expression that “cash is king.” But for many businesses, data is now more important. It is the lifeblood of the organization. Yet, unfortunately, many don’t really understand the truly devastating impact of an IT disaster, thus they don’t take the necessary steps to protect themselves.

Have you ever been working on a report or tax return when the lights flickered and you lost 15 minutes of your work? How frustrating was that? And when you lose an hour of it? The frustration and cost to recover your information increases dramatically.

The concern for technology threats is evident in the AICPA’s 2013 North America Top Technology Initiatives Survey, with the top 10 concerns for CPAs in the United States being:

1. Managing and retaining data
2. Securing the IT environment
3. Managing IT risk and compliance
4. Ensuring privacy
5. Managing system implementations
6. Preventing and responding to computer fraud
7. Enabling decision support and analytics
8. Governing and managing IT investment/spending
9. Leveraging emerging technologies
10. Managing vendors and service providers

Ernst & Young interviewed 1,900 C-suite professionals and published their findings in its Under Cyber Attack: EY’s Global Information Security Survey 2013. Cyberrisks and threats were top concerns for 62 percent of the respondents. So it’s safe to say that IT issues are feared disasters, and we have good reason to be afraid.

In January 2014, someone hacked into ...