Disaster Trolls Podcast
Charlie recommends a podcast series he’s been listening to recently and discusses why it is important for business continuity professionals to be aware of trolls. This week I have been (mainly) listening to the podcast Disaster Trolls on BBC Sounds. It is an excellent exposé of UK trolls who demean and insult survivors of
Ransomware – If you pay a ransom, do you get your data back?
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie discusses paying a ransom to retrieve your data and shares his research on how much data organisations have recovered in the past. This afternoon, myself and one of the PlanB Consulting consultants, Jamie, were talking to a client about their forthcoming cyber exercise. This was the second cyber exercise
BCI World Hybrid 2022: 8 Take-Aways
We’ve been to BCI World Hybrid 2022! In this week’s bulletin, Charlie talks about the highlights from BCI World Hybrid 2022 and discusses the growth in the Business Continuity community. The face-to-face conference was sold out weeks prior to the event, so there is still a strong demand to learn more about business continuity
Learning from the Scottish Cyber Summit
Charlie attended The Scottish Cyber Summit earlier this week and has summarised points made by different speakers and panellists. Yesterday, I attended the Scottish Cyber Summit in Edinburgh! So for this week’s bulletin, I will be sharing what I learnt from the event. The summit was a gathering of the ‘great and good’ of
Ten Reasons Why You Should Conduct Short Exercises
In today’s bulletin, Charlie talks about the benefits of short exercises, particularly if you are a beginner at running exercises. Yesterday, our Prime Minister went from being the highest in office in the country, to being a pub quiz question. Being short doesn’t necessarily mean bad, well at least in business continuity exercises. If
Statutory Cyber Incident Reporting in the USA
This week’s bulletin covers the new Cyber Security laws in America, how these incidents should be reported, and the organisations which could face the worst impact of a cyber security incident. I have been looking through the BCT Certificate in Cyber Incident Management course materials, as I am going to have a discussion with Eamonn Keane who is
You’re on the slippery slope…
In this week’s bulletin, Charlie talks about how to rebuild your reputation after a mistake, the government being in a potential ‘downward-spiral’, and gives an insight into his army experience. Our new Prime Minister and Chancellor have not ‘hit the ground running’ and must have had a 1 or 2-day honeymoon period before having the
James Watt of BrewDog – Never go to court?
This week’s bulletin looks at reputation, court cases, and how to manage targeted abuse. Having previously written a case study about James Watt of BrewDog and how he handled allegations of bullying within the organisation, the BBC documentary repeating these allegations and hinting he was using his position for sexual impropriety, I was interested to read that
Cyber Attacks on Hospitals – What are the Impacts? (Part 2)
This is part 2 of last week’s bulletin, discussing the dire impacts of a cyber attack on healthcare services. Communications Communications are incredibly important in a healthcare setting, especially as they are looking after many patients. Any incident, changes, or location swap affecting the patients must be rapidly communicated to the patient’s loved ones or
Cyber Attacks on Hospitals – What are the Impacts?
After conducting cyber incident exercises in a hospital this week, Charlie is sharing his key take aways and research, looking specifically at healthcare organisations. Earlier this week at PlanB Consulting, my colleagues and I wrote and then delivered two exercises for a hospital in the UK. We delivered the first exercise for the Gold Team
Why Operational Resilience Ignores Resilience Professionals
This week, Charlie talks about operational resilience in today’s world and why it is important to become resilient in order to survive. I believe right now there has never been a more important time for organisations to be resilient. The certainties of the last 10 years are shifting like sand under us. Interest rates are
Should PMs Party?
In the age of camera phones and social media, it has become harder for public figures to hide from the public eye. Charlie discusses how two different Prime Ministers handled leaked pictures from a crisis communications angle, and what lessons BC professionals can learn from this. I have been following the story of Finnish Prime
The 5 Golden Rules of When Business Continuity Software Goes Bad
If you’re thinking about buying software for your business continuity roll out, this bulletin discusses what you have to be aware of and be ready to deal with before you make the plunge. I am a great fan of business continuity software, I love how your whole BCMS is in one place, you are able
Have Cyber Attacks Killed People?
This week, Charlie discusses the evidence behind cyber attacks indirectly causing the death and injury of people. Also, the importance of exercises to train employees on how to work efficiently during a cyber attack. This week there was a cyber attack on NHS 111, with the hackers targeting its software supplier, Advanced. As healthcare is
Has Health & Safety Gone Mad?
After witnessing a near miss incident during a fishing competition, Charlie reiterates the importance of health and safety checks, risk assessments, and great response plans. A couple of weeks ago, I was involved in a near miss accident at the Isle of Coll fishing competition, so I wanted to share a few thoughts on this
Include a ‘Working Strategy’ in Your Plans
This week, Charlie discusses why using a simpler incident response model is better suited for clients. For a long time, I have been working on developing and refining a framework for responding to and managing incidents. The framework has to be simple, as those who are going to use it will likely have limited training,
Flu Pandemic Planning 2006 and What Really Happened!
This week, Charlie discusses pandemic plans that were suggested back in 2006, and how they compare to the actions that were taken during the height of the COVID pandemic. I came across the booklet ‘Flu Pandemic Guidelines for Businesses’ produced by Survive when we were moving our office. I thought it might be interesting to
Why Do We Not Believe…?
This week, Charlie discusses the big question…why do we not trust warnings, that we believe to be completely outrageous? Also, why business continuity professionals need to implement this crucial fact into our plans. I recently watched the Jimmy Saville documentary, ‘Jimmy Saville a British Horror Story’ on Netflix, and was fascinated by the idea of
Defining RTOs – Help Needed
This week, Charlie needs your help and advice when it comes to RTOs! Read on to learn more about his questions and thoughts regarding the changing world of business continuity. This week, I will be sharing some of my thoughts regarding RTOs as I am slightly struggling, and hope some readers of the bulletin may
PlanB Consulting – F24 UK 2022
“Protecting people, assets and reputation through effective emergency response and business resilience.” PlanB are delighted to be attending this year’s F24 event in Aberdeen on the 24th June. PlanB and other strategic partners will be hosting exercises across the day for crisis managers, emergency responders and business continuity practitioners. Our Founder and Director, Charlie Maclean-Bristol,
Business Continuity in Saudi Arabia – It’s Good!
In this bulletin, Charlie discusses business continuity in Saudi, where he has been conducting exercises and workshops. This week, I have been in Riyadh delivering a series of workshops, exercises, and business continuity reviews. Therefore, I will be sharing some thoughts on what I have learned. I have been to the country many times before
Working in a Hybrid World – The Future of Incident & Crisis Management Rooms
Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) has been running this past week to raise awareness about the new hybrid work environment and how organisations need to rethink the way they embed, validate, and raise awareness amongst their staff of Business Continuity Plans. The theme for BCAW 2022 is Building Resilience in the Hybrid World and for this
Cyber UK 2022 – What Did We Learn?
Charlie shares his thoughts on the recent CYBERUK 2022 conference. This week Dawn, the Business Development Manager from PlanB Consulting, and I, attended CYBERUK 2022 at the ICC Conference Centre in Newport Wales. Therefore, for today’s bulletin, I will be sharing some of the highlights and my thoughts on the event. The event is the National Cyber
Rota Power Cuts and an Old Incident Revisited – Auckland Power Outage, 1998
This week, Charlie discusses his experience with power cuts in Johannesburg, and previous famous power cuts, such as in Auckland. I am currently in Johannesburg, South Africa, delivering an MSc module to a client from Glasgow University; the module is on “Work-Based Resilience, Continuity and Crisis Management”. After a day of lecturing, I took a
Product Recall: A Checklist of Actions
This week, Charlie creates a checklist for you to follow in case of a product recall situation. This week I carried out a product recall exercise for a pharmaceutical company. I do not claim to be an expert in the finer processes of a product recall, but some of the issues associated with product recalls