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Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Business Continuity and Cybersecurity: Your Ultimate Survival Guide
It’s Not If a Cyber Attack Will Happen, It’s When. Are You Prepared to Survive?
Imagine this: you walk into your office on a Monday morning, but none of your computers work. Your files are encrypted, your customer data is locked, and a message on the screen demands a ransom. Every minute your business is down, you’re losing money, customer trust, and your hard-earned reputation.
For a small or medium-sized business (SMB), this isn’t a scary movie plot—it’s a devastating reality. Over 60% of small businesses that suffer a significant cyber attack go out of business within six months.
The solution isn’t just about having firewalls and antivirus software. It’s about resilience. It’s about having a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that is built for the modern threat of cybersecurity attacks.
What is Business Continuity (in Plain English)?
Think of it this way:
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Cybersecurity is the lock on your front door, designed to keep intruders out.
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Business Continuity is your emergency plan for what to do when an intruder inevitably gets in. It’s the fire drill for a digital fire.
A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a roadmap that outlines how your business will continue to operate during and after a disaster. While you might have a plan for a fire or a flood, a cyber attack is a far more likely “disaster” for the modern SMB. Big companies have far more extensive BCPs, like the one that JP Morgan an others perform. At tekrisq, we focus on pragmatic plans focused on areas of technology for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs).
The Value: Why Your SMB Can’t Afford to Ignore This
As a business owner, you focus on ROI. Investing in business continuity isn’t an expense; it’s one of the smartest investments you can make. Here’s the direct value to your bottom line and your brand.
Minimize Catastrophic Downtime
Every hour your systems are offline costs you money in lost sales, lost productivity, and employee wages. A solid BCP drastically reduces your Recovery Time Objective (RTO), getting you back to business in hours instead of weeks.
Value: Protects your revenue and cash flow.
Protect Your Hard-Won Reputation
How you handle a crisis tells your customers everything. A swift, organized recovery shows competence and builds trust. A chaotic, slow response can destroy it forever.
Value: Retains customer loyalty and protects your brand image.
Maintain Compliance and Avoid Fines
If you handle sensitive data (customer info, medical records, financial details), you are legally obligated to protect it. A data breach can lead to massive fines under regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS. A BCP is a critical part of demonstrating due diligence.
Value: Avoids costly legal penalties and regulatory scrutiny.
Gain a Competitive Advantage
Imagine two businesses in your industry are hit by the same ransomware attack. Your competitor, without a plan, flounders for weeks. You, with your BCP, are back online in a day. Who do you think their customers will turn to?
Value: Positions your business as reliable and resilient, attracting new customers.
Achieve True Peace of Mind
Stop worrying about “what if.” A tested BCP gives you and your team the confidence to know you can handle a crisis, allowing you to focus on what you do best: growing your business.
Value: Reduces stress and allows for strategic focus rather than reactive panic.
Core Components of a Cyber-Resilient BCP
A BCP doesn’t have to be a 500-page binder. For an SMB, it should be practical, accessible, and actionable. Here are the key ingredients:
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA): First, identify your most critical business functions. What absolutely must keep running? (e.g., Taking orders, processing payments, customer support). This helps you prioritize your recovery efforts.
- Incident Response Plan (IRP): This is your step-by-step playbook for the moment an attack is detected. Who do you call first? How do you isolate the affected systems? Who communicates with employees and customers?
- Data Backup and Recovery Strategy: This is your ace in the hole. Your data is your most valuable asset. A reliable, tested backup solution is non-negotiable. The best practice is the 3-2-1 Rule: 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy stored off-site.
- Communication Plan: Panic thrives in a vacuum. You need a clear plan for communicating with your employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders during a crisis. Pre-written templates are a lifesaver.
- Regular Testing and Training: A plan you never test is just a document. Run drills. Test your data backups regularly. Ensure your employees know their roles in an emergency.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: We’re a small business. Isn’t this kind of planning only for big corporations?
A: Absolutely not. In fact, it’s more critical for SMBs. Large corporations have the deep pockets to absorb the financial hit of a major outage. For an SMB, a few days of downtime can be a death sentence. Your plan can be scaled to your size and budget.
Q: How much does it cost to create a Business Continuity Plan?
A: The cost varies widely. You can start with simple, internal steps like improving your backup strategy and drafting a basic communication plan for very little cost. For more comprehensive planning and testing, consulting with a cybersecurity expert is a wise investment that costs far less than a single day of downtime.
Q: My IT guy says he handles backups. Isn’t that enough?
A: Well, who knows? IT and cybersecurity are two different domains. See our article on that topic. Maybe he has an proper cybersecurity backup solution, or maybe he sends things to a server that could also be compromised. Backups are a critical component, but they are not a complete plan. A BCP answers the bigger questions: How do we restore the data? What systems get restored first? How do we operate while the restoration is happening? Who communicates with our clients? A full plan covers the people and processes, not just the technology.
Don’t Wait for a Disaster to Plan for One
Your business is your livelihood. Protecting it is your number one job. A cyber attack is a modern-day disaster that requires a modern-day survival plan. A Business Continuity Plan integrated with cybersecurity isn’t just a good idea—it’s essential for survival.
Legacy Definition
The documentation of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe how an organization’s mission/business functions will be sustained during and after a significant disruption.
SOURCE: SP 800-34
The documentation of a predetermined set of instructions or procedures that describe how an organization’s business functions will be sustained during and after a significant disruption.
SOURCE: CNSSI-4009
