Briefs

Bird flu BCP

– In August, reports of bird flu – also known as SARS – in Russia created a cascade of press coverage speculating on the possibility of an epidemic in the UK and continental Europe over the coming months. The strain of flu – called H5N1 – has affected poultry flocks and other birds in several Asian countries since 2003. By August of this year, 112 people have caught the infection, 57 of whom have died. SARS caused the enactment of business continuity plans (BCP) at financial instituions in Asia in 2003 when an outbreak of the bird flu caused several deaths. The Department of Health in the UK has published information about bird flu and is encouraging firms to put BCP plans in place in the event of an outbreak in the UK.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/AboutUs/MinistersAndDepartmentLeaders/ChiefMedicalOfficer/Features/FeaturesArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4102997&chk=OcYuEL

Post July 7 BCI survey report published

– The Business Continuity Institute performed a survey of UK businesses affected by the July 7 terrorist bombings in central London. Nearly 80 companies responded to the survey, with 38% invoking their business continuity plans and a similar percentage creating relative response teams to address personal concerns. Common problems included mobile networks becoming overloaded and telephone switchboards receiving high volumes of calls. The full report is at: http://www.thebci.org/7-7Report.pdf

Hitachi study highlights European threats

– European businesses consider physical damage, electronic attacks and errant employees as the main threats to their data, according to new research released by Hitachi Data Systems. Of the 821 firms questioned, 82% claim to have a disaster recovery strategy in place, with 65% of that group also having a remote disaster recovery site to which they replicate important data. However, despite fire being cited as a main threat to data, 35% of firms do not currently back-up data remotely, with 31% also believing that the priority given to business continuity by their company's executive board is too low. While fire (57%), computer viruses (55%) and human error (50%) were the three most common perceived threats to data across all countries – followed by criminal attacks/hacking (32%) and downtime (31%) – terrorism, though only polling 11% in total, was a prominent concern for UK, Spanish and Israeli firms.