Cyber just one of many threats

An interesting survey on business leaders’ opinions on Business Continuity threats has come from the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) in London. If nothing else, it is a reminder that keeping the lights on in business is about much more than the constant threat of cyber-attacks.

Carried out in association with British Standards Institute (BSI), it does, however, reveal that this ever-present threat of IT-related attacks or failures are continuing to provide the greatest concern for organisations.

What is more concerning, perhaps, is that it also shows many businesses are not taking sufficient precautions to keep those lights on.

The annual BCI Horizon Scan shows that 77 percent of business leaders fear the possibility of an unplanned IT and telecoms outage, while 73 percent worry about the possibility of a cyber-attack or data breach. The report also identifies long-term trends, with 73 percent seeing the use of the internet for malicious attacks as a major threat that needs to be closely monitored.

Perhaps slightly more curious is the finding that 63 percent of those surveyed see the influence of social media as a significant threat to business, rather than as a tool that can be used proactively to influence markets.

This year’s top ten threats to business continuity are:, in descending order, unplanned IT and telecom outages, cyber-attack, data breach, adverse weather, interruption to utility supply, fire, security incident, Health & Safety incident, act of terrorism, and new laws or regulations.

“At a time when changing climatic, social, political and economic situations are forcing organisations to be nimble in adapting to novel threats, it is essential to learn from others’ experience and best practice,” said Howard Kerr, Chief Executive at BSI. “Developing the resilience of networks, services and business critical information must be an integral part of an organisation’s wider business resilience strategy. By putting in place a framework based on risk standards, you will be able to identify, prioritise and manage the range of threats to your business more effectively and keep your stakeholders reassured.”

Further findings from the report show that 57 percent of respondents expressed concern or extreme concern about the threat of adverse weather. It is worth noting that this fear was expressed before the storms that swept the UK and those on the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. It has to be assumed that it will rank much higher now.

Geography and industry play an important role in determining threat levels, with respondents from Japan and New Zealand showing greater levels of concern for earthquakes, while those in the manufacturing industry rate supply chain disruption and product quality control as greater threats.

Of the 71 percent of respondents who stated that they did conduct a trend analysis, as much as a fifth of them claimed they had no access to the final output.

Perhaps a little concerning, not least for the BSI itself, is the finding that less than half of the respondents use the international standard ISO22301 as the framework for their business continuity management programme. Even more concerning is that, despite all these fears, only 18 percent of organisations are increasing their level of investment in business continuity programmes, while 11 percent are actively reducing theirs.