1.

1 Disaster Recovery Plan – <Company Name>

1. Date of completion or update of the plan:

2. Locations of additional copies of the Disaster Recovery Plan:

 Office Premises
 Internet
 IT Manager’s residence/email account
 MD’s residence/email account
 Technical Support Personnel’s residence/email account
 Offsite storage
 Backup Location

1.1 Introduction

The intent of this Disaster Recovery Plan is to provide a set of written instructions directing the
computer system recovery process in the event of an interruption resulting from an unplanned and
unexpected disaster.

This Disaster Recovery Plan is prepared to preserve the operational dependency on computer systems,
including the Local Area Network (LAN), Database Servers, Internet, Intranet and e-Mail in a potential
loss of operational control that may occur in the event of a disaster.

1.2 Scope

This Disaster Recovery plan provides the instructions to rescue the following resources of the <Company
Name> in an event of a disaster

1. Data repositories which hold important company data

2. Source files of the business applications
3. File servers supporting all business operations
4. Business applications
5. Operating systems
6. General software applications
7. Hardware and networking appliances

2.0 Pre-Disaster Security Precautions

Various precaution techniques are applied to the IT resources to protect information and systems from
attacks and threats.

1. Password Maintenance and access levels

 All the databases and systems are protected with passwords to protect the valuable information
from unauthorized access. This is to prevent data loss or damage due to such threats.

All the computers have undisclosed admin passwords to be used for the use of IT technicians
and to recover the contents of a particular computer when an access problem occurs.

The system users are assigned to different access levels to match with their authority levels.
Certain functionalities of the systems are restricted from the lower level access holders. This is
to ensure only the appropriate persons get to see, edit or delete company information.

2. Anti -virus protection

All the servers and client computers at <Company Name> are protected with Kaspersky virus
guard to protect the information from malicious attacks.

3. Secured Network Connection

All the computers and other devices that connect to the LAN or the internet are secured with
firewall and protected proxy. This controls the information flowing through the network.

4. Physical access controls

<Company Name> restricts the entry only for the authorized personals. ‘Authorized Personals
only’ sign is displayed at the entrance to show that everyone is not permitted to enter a
particular department. This is to ensure the security of data resources, Hardware appliances,
Software CDs etc.

5. Backup Facilities
Company data and systems are stored in the on-site and off-site backup servers to assure the
existence of data in case of destruction of the originals.

3.0 Potential Disasters

2.1.1 Environmental Disasters
 Flood
Floods result from heavy and prolonged rainfall causing rivers to overflow their banks and flood the
surrounding areas. Floods can seriously affect equipment causing power failures and loss of facilities and
can even result in injury or death. <Company Name> has a potential threat of damage due to flood.
 Earthquake
Earthquakes result in violent shaking and movement of the earth's surface. Severe earthquakes can
destroy power and communication lines and disrupt water and utility services. Significant damage to
structures can occur including total collapse of buildings or other elevated structures. Earthquakes can
also bring landslides and aftershocks. Dangers to human life are; being trapped in a collapsing building,
and the possibility of falling glass or other objects.
 Fire
Fires are often devastating and can be started through a wide range of events which may be accidental or
environmental. The impact on the company will vary depending on the severity of the fire and the speed
within which it can be brought under control. A fire can cause human injury or death and damage can also
be caused to paper based information, hardware equipment and the buildings.
 Epidemic
An epidemic can occur when an illness affects a large number of persons within the company. This can
have a particularly short term impact on business continuity through a number of persons being absent
from work at the same time.

2.1.2 Deliberate Disruption

 Act of terrorism
Acts of terrorism include explosions, bomb threats, hostage taking, sabotage and organized violence.
Whether this is perpetrated through a terrorist organization or a violent protest group, the effect on
individuals and business is the same. Such acts create uncertainty and fear and serve to de-stabilize the
general working environment.
 Act of Sabotage
An act of sabotage is the deliberate serious disruption of the company’s activities with an attempt to
damage the company’s resources. Business will often be immediately and seriously affected by
successful acts of sabotage. This can affect the normal operations and also serve to de-stabilize the
workforce. An internal attack on the IT systems through the use of malicious code can be considered to
be an act of sabotage.
 Theft
This could range from the theft of goods or equipment in the company to the theft of confidential
information stored in the databases. This can lead the IT operations to not work as usual and could result
the inaccuracy of processed information. Theft can also cause suspicion and uncertainty with the
workforce where it may be believed that one or more of them could have been involved.

2.1.3 Loss of Utilities and Services

 Electrical power failure
The IT systems majorly depend on electrical power to continue normal operations. There should be a
preparation for a possible electrical power failure as the data can be lost and systems can get corrupted
as results. Consideration should be given to maintaining UPS systems to avoid brownouts.
 Communications services breakdown
<Company Name> is dependent upon telecommunications services to operate their normal processes
and to enable the networks to function. A disruption to the telecommunications services can result in
inconveniences of daily operations as well as when another disaster has occurred at the premises.

2.1.4 Equipment or System Failure

 Internal power failure
An internal power failure is an interruption to the electrical power services caused through internal
equipment or cabling failure. This type of fault will need to be repaired by an electrician and delays will
inevitably impact on the usual process. A sudden power cut may affect the computer systems badly so
that the data might get corrupted.
 Air conditioning failure
An air conditioning (AC) failure could have serious consequences where the AC unit is protecting
sensitive equipment such as the computer processing units, and the rise in temperature could cause the
equipment to fail and be damaged.

2.1.5 Information Security Incidents

 Loss of company records or data
The information stored in a computer can be lost due to corruption, hardware failure or theft. The loss
of records or data can be particularly disruptive because it results in the need to replace the data from
the backup servers. This is a time consuming process and will be accomplished through additional
working hours.
 Virus Attacks

Virus and other malware can enter the computer systems via internet, external devices like USB drives
etc. Once a virus walks in a computer, it can quickly rip through the system, destroying files, corrupting
data, rendering applications useless, and in general causing damages to the IT systems. A virus attack
can decrease the memory space and slow the operations. It can sometimes make the whole computer
broken-down.

4.0 Key Personnel to be contacted in a Disaster

Key Personnel Contact Info

Name, Title Contact Option Contact Number

IT Manager Work
Alternate
Mobile
Home
Email Address

Assistant Manager Work

Alternate
Mobile
Home
Email Address

Hardware Technician Work

Alternate
Mobile
Home
Email Address

Work
Alternate
Mobile
Home
Email Address
Emergency services to be called

Service Contact Person Number

Security Staff
Ambulance
Police
Fire Department
Electrician
Data Processing Backup
Emergency Management
Coordinator
Insurance Agent
Electricity Board
Water Board
Nearest Hospitals

Other

5.0 Salvation Plan in an event of a disaster

Salvage Priority List

1 Human Life
2 Databases
3 System Sources
4 Operating System CDs
5 Hardware and Network Appliances
6 Software CDs
7 Furniture and other

Executable Plan for Disasters

Step1: Identifying the problem; notifying the authorities

Step2: Reducing your exposure
Step3: Salvation according to the priority list
Step4: Calling up Emergency services
Step5: Evacuation of the resources
Step6: Restoration from the Backups
Step7: Immediately action to operation continuity
Step 1: Identifying the problem; notifying the authorities

It is beneficial if the disaster could be pre-identified. Whenever a threat of some disaster is known, the
respectable staff members should be prepared to prevent potential damages or loss.

First the disaster type should be identified and the potential damages should be analyzed. Particular
authorities are to be informed about the disaster. Key personnel and emergency services should be
contacted in aid. (3.0 provides the lists of contact details)

Step2: Reducing your exposure

The staff members and other human beings who’re facing the disaster should first consider their safety
and then rescuing the rest. In case of sudden natural disasters like Earthquakes, the staff should be first
take the safety initiatives and stay in safety until the condition is under control.

Human life is mostly important among others and they should be out of harm's way in order to preserve
other valuable resources of the company.

Step3: Salvation according to the priority list

The resources should be rescued in the order of importance before a pre-identified disaster or after an
unexpected disaster.

This should be carried out when the condition is under control.

The responsible personnel should be careful to decrease the damage to the resources and the
confidential information should be protected against the theft at an event of another disaster.

Step4: Calling up Emergency services

Emergency services should be called up appropriately to prevent the disasters to affect severely. The list
of emergency services contacts are given in 3.0

The salvation operations can be carried out further with the help of emergency service providers.

Step5: Evacuation of the resources

This includes the migration of the rescued resources to some other safe location. This is done to protect
the resources from being damaged further and ensure the security of the resources from being stolen
and unauthorized access.

The management and the other responsible parties should be informed about the new location of the
resources.
Step6: Initiation of Backup Procedures
The duplicates of the information and computer systems can be taken from the backup servers. They
should be restored accordingly to start the usual operations once again.

Backup Facilities

Data Backups

Duplicates of all data stored on the hard drives are kept as backups. The backup database servers are
updated frequently to hold the latest of company data records.

The data backups are to re-create the live data sources during an unexpected data loss or data
corruption. In a failure, restoring the corrupted databases with the backup databases will make the
systems work as usual.

System Backup

The setups and executables of the system software used in<Company Name> are secured in a backup
server. In case of loss or corruption of the software components, the systems can be re-installed using
the system backups.

Off-site Backup

An off-site backup server is maintained at the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), Colombo to store all the
important company data and systems. This commercial server can be used to re-create the original IT
environment in <Company Name> in a time of disaster.

Standard Backup Procedures

1) Daily processing
2) Weekly processing
3) Monthly processing
4) Annual processing

Restoration Help

Hardware

A complete list of Hardware utilities placed in the company

Item Spec Vendor Contact Details

Network

The network plan of the company

Operating Systems

Listing Of All Purchased Operating Systems

OS Version Vendor

Backup location of OS copies:

Application Software

Listing of All Purchased Software Packages

Software Version Vendor

Backup location Software copies:

System Software

This includes all the software systems and websites that are been deployed by the IT- dept.
The list of System Software

System Responsible Staff Member Backup Location

The installation guides and the user manuals are also kept secured in the backup locations.