Data Breaches: Does Anyone Care?
Charlie talks about the recent cyber attacks on the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and discusses the impacts of these attacks. In this bulletin, I emphasise that, while data breaches impact all those whose data has been compromised, until organisations face financial and reputational consequences,
Arrogance: The Undoing of Many Senior Managers – NatWest Thoughts
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie shares his thoughts on the recent NatWest scandal and discusses how senior managers should handle a crisis. I have been closely following the Coutts, NatWest, and Dame Alison Rose crisis over the last few days, contemplating the lessons we can learn from it. Crisis professionals can teach senior managers how
Use of Cyber Threat Intelligence to Guide Crisis Response: A Checklist for Crisis Teams
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the questions that organisations should be considering when carrying out a potential response to a cyber-attack, including how the attacker got into the system and what their potential motives could be. When organisations are the subject of a cyber-attack, many plans I have seen do not include some
Business Continuity Professionals – Is AI Going to Make You Redundant
Charlie discusses the emerging use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and looks at what changes it can make within your organisation and the positives and possible downsides of using AI. I came across an article on AI and business continuity a couple of days ago. The article had a number of links in it, and in
Mind the Resilience Podcast – From Vision to Success: The Story of a Resilience Entrepreneur
This week Charlie was a special guest on Episode 22 of the Mind the Resilience podcast, discussing his passion for business continuity, the challenges faced by organisations during crises and his thoughts on emerging trends. Here is a sneak preview of the episode: Introduction to Charlie: Discover the story behind his journey in establishing
The Covid Inquiry: Some Thoughts
In this bulletin, Charlie shares his thoughts and opinions on the current controversy revolving around the Scottish Government. He dissects how some actions during the COVID pandemic might have affected the country, comparing it to other recent disasters faced by the UK. This week, we saw a sight that, if you are from Scotland, we
What is the Difference Between Cyber Incident Management and Cyber Incident Response?
Charlie looks at the difference between cyber incident management and cyber incident response and the different set of issues they have to deal with in the different teams. This week, I thought I would write a short technical bulletin. Many people use the terms cyber incident management and cyber incident response interchangeably, but they each
Coordinating Emergency Response and Business Continuity in Manufacturing
Charlie discusses the different emergency response and business continuity issues to consider after an incident, and how both teams can communicate efficiently. This week, I have been working with two manufacturing companies that both supply products to the construction industry. I have worked for several manufacturing organisations and have always had to work hard
MOVEit and Capita- Why Your Organisation Needs To Carry Out A Data Risk Assessment
Charlie re-investigates Capita’s hack and discusses how performing a data risk assessment on your organisation may be beneficial in the event of a cyber incident, and looks at what should be included within the assessment. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how poor I thought Capita’s response to their hack on the
BCAW- Organisational Resilience – The Key Principles to building a Resilient Organisation
To round off a fantastic BCAW, Consultant Chloe Mclaughlin, explores the topic of organisational resilience. Organisational resilience is vital in today’s rapidly changing and uncertain world. By identifying potential risks, developing plans to mitigate those risk and establishing effective crisis management protocols, organisations can minimise disruption, ensure business continuity and enhance their reputation. Organisations can follow
BCAW- Personal Resilience – Building resilience through self-care and why this matters for business continuity
Discussing another aspect of Personal Resilience is Consultant Monica Habo. She explain how Self-Care influences business Continuity Although the post-Covid world is our new normal, working practices are a long way away from what they used to be. For the majority of people, working 9-5 meant working 5 days a week from the office, no question.
BCAW- Personal Resilience – Personal Resilience Before, During and After an Incident
Senior Consultant Simon Freeston, breaks down personal resilience before, during and after an incident. During this week so far, we have talked about resilience in several different forms from supply chain resilience to cyber resilience. One of the most important, and in my opinion sometimes overlooked, forms of resilience is personal resilience. Personal resilience focuses
BCAW- Operational Relilience – Understanding Operational Resilience with a focus on the key benefits when embedding it within your organisation
We are half way through BCAW and consultant Carly Clements presents her views on operational resilience. In today’s ever-changing and developing world that we are living in, Operational Resilience has never been more important than it is now. Operational resilience has been an active area of focus especially after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In order
Five Things We Can Learn About Business Continuity From the Coronation of King Charles III
Charlie discusses what business continuity professionals can take away from the recent coronation of King Charles III and talks about how we can improve our business continuity responses. Whether you are a republican, monarchist, or not really concerned either way, you cannot have missed the coronation. Most observers said the whole ceremony went off well,
BCAW : Supply Chain : What can organisations do to attempt to protect themselves from supply chain risks?
Day two of BCAW and Senior Consultant, Gavin Watt, explores what organisations can do to attempt to protect themselves from supply chain risks. What Can Organisations Do To Attempt To Protect Themselves From Supply Chain Risks? Supplier bankruptcy, trade disputes, political instability, pandemics, natural disasters and cyber-attacks are all seen to be key factors in
BCAW : Cyber Resilience : Quantum Computing and its Implications for Cyber Resilience
To kick start BCI’s Business Continuity Awareness Week, Jamie Lees, Consultant here at PlanB Consulting, writes about todays topic, Cyber Resilience. Quantum Computing and its Implications for Cyber Resilience In today’s world, the use of encryption to secure digital assets has become commonplace. However, as technology continues to advance, encryption methods that were once thought
Capita Hack: A Case Study of What Not To Do …
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses Capita’s response to its recent cyber attack and gives an insight into how organisations should communicate with their customers after a potential breach. I have been meaning to write something on Capita since I was aware of their hack about a month ago. Shortly after it happened, I went
What Can We Learn From The Recent Outbreak of Fighting in Sudan
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses the importance of being prepared for potential incidents when sending staff abroad for work and the importance of communication. I take a keen interest in anything that happens in Sudan. When I was 18, I spent a year there, working as an English Language teacher in a secondary
Thoughts on CyberUK 2023
Charlie gives an insight into his thoughts on the recent CyberUK conference and discusses how cyber security has changed in recent years. This week I have been at the CyberUK Conference in Belfast. The conference is billed as ‘the UK’s flagship cyber security event run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’. It is
The Resilience Ego Trip ?
This week’s bulletin has been provided by Gavin Watt (AMBCI) who gives some insight into the current need for business continuity in our organisations and how business continuity can be operationalised. Over the past couple of days, I have been thinking about the past few exercises with clients I have conducted, training sessions I have
Women and Online Trolling
Charlie discusses the issue of women being trolled online, including the type of attacks utilised and what women can do if they are being trolled. I was challenged by my wife Kim yesterday evening to write the bulletin about women and online trolling. A couple of nights ago, we listened to the BBC Newscast podcast
ASIS Europe 2023 – From Risk to Resilience
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses his thoughts from his recent security conference in Rotterdam and gives an insight into the use of autonomous technology. This week, I have been in Rotterdam at the ASIS European Conference. ASIS, for those who are not familiar with the organisation, is a professional organisation for security professionals. It
Ransomware Payments – Some Statistics
This week, Charlie provides some interesting statistics around the payment of ransomware and gives an insight into the amount of money that organisations pay to these criminal gangs. This week and last week I have been umpiring cyber exercises. Both exercises involved a ransomware attack demanding a ransom. When I teach cyber incident management, one
Negotiating With Hackers – Lessons to Take Away
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses what to do in a negotiation situation with hackers, and looks at what we can learn from the situation with Royal Mail and their hackers. This week, with two of my PlanB Consulting colleagues, I assessed the response of the crisis team of a large financial organisation. As part
Online Reputation Management
In today’s bulletin, Charlie discusses how you could salvage your reputation after an accusation, using Online Reputation Management (ORM) companies. Following an interview with Jonny and Louis from Status Labs – an ORM company – Charlie gives us an insight into how these companies work and the benefits of the service. Imagine…You have been a