|
Many of the companies affected by the US terrorist attacks have lost data that cannot be replaced because data recovery plans were not designed to cater for such a large-scale disaster, senior industry sources have said.
Jim Martin, the chief operating officer with Worldport Ireland, which specialises in providing internet solutions, said that the majority of businesses affected would not have backed up data.
"The majority of data would have been stored on desktops and laptops -- not in any central repository off-site," Martin said. "Even if the data was backed up to a server, that machine was most likely in a room in the same building."
The World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attacks, was home to some of the leading financial and investment institutions in the world, including American Express, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank. All of those companies are expected to come under scrutiny in terms of their ability to recover valuable information.
Martin said that the destruction in Manhattan had pushed disaster and recovery services up the priority list in companies of all sizes, irrespective of cost.
"We have had an exponential increase in the understanding of these types of services as a result of what has happened. No one had a clue those buildings would collapse, but they're gone. That has sent a very strong message to the business community," Martin said.
Worldport has spent over $70 million in Ireland, including $8 million on a solution that provides business continuity and recovery services. Under this system, clients ship copies of all their information to Worldport sites worldwide, to protect them in the event of a large-scale disaster.
Worldport's Dublin site is also connected to the national electricity grid at two places to limit the impact of power failures. However, Martin said a top level recovery plan for a multinational could cost several million pounds a year.
According to Rory Nolan, technical director of Irish risk management company, ITRM, some companies never recover from major losses of data. "Only six per cent of companies that suffer catastrophic data loss survive in the long term," Nolan said. "Forty-three per cent never re-open. Of the rest, 51 per cent close within two years of the disaster."
He said that of the 350 businesses operating in the World Center before the 1993 bombing, 150 were out of business a year later.
"Disaster recovery has become a national priority in the US. While most companies plan for economic or business downturns, they do not do the same level of preparation for disaster. Companies don't seem to realise the importance of a data loss prevention plan."
Bob Semple, a risk management partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin, said companies should take a level-headed approach to disaster recovery and continuity planning.
He said companies should be clever about how they developed and deployed disaster recovery plans.
"You need a systematic and canny assessment of risk in which you pick the scenarios that are really important and deal with them."
|
