REGIONAL PORTALS
Continuity Central currently offers three regional business continuity portals:
North America
United Kingdom
Asia Pacific / Australasia


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Business continuity news and information:
North America

Business continuity considerations for the Chicago NATO summit
On 20 and 21 May 2012 Chicago will host a NATO summit. What should local businesses know and what should they be planning for?
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•Date: 10th May 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Business continuity certification guidance published
Avalution Consulting has published a new white paper that provides useful business continuity certification guidance.
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•Date: 10th May 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC standards

FEMA publishes 2012 National Preparedness Report
Overall the report found that the US has increased its collective preparedness, not only from external threats, but also for natural and technological hazards.
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•Date: 8th May 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Business continuity in Toronto
Survey finds that 85 percent of Toronto-area companies have developed business continuity plans.
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•Date: 3rd May 2012 • Canada •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

Survey looks into bring your own device trends
Banning employees’ mobile devices creates more risks than allowing supported use does.
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•Date: 27th April 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Association of State Floodplain Managers urges Congress to accept two year extension to US National Flood Insurance Program
Long extension period would give time to complete NFIP reform program.
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•Date: 26th April 2012 • UK •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery general

US GAO reports on ‘Cybersecurity: Threats Impacting the Nation’
The number of cybersecurity incidents reported by federal agencies continues to rise, and recent incidents illustrate that these pose serious risk.
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•Date: 26th April 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Researchers study costs of 'dirty bomb' attack in L.A.
Research underscores the importance of risk communication before and after a major disaster to reduce economic losses.
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•Date: 26th April 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

The Fifth Emerging Risks Survey
Eighty-Four percent of risk managers have C-Level Input and the power to influence strategic business opportunities.
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•Date: 20th April 2012 • N.America •Type: Article • Topic: Enterprise risk management

Risk managers and senior leaders differ on role of risk management
According to Marsh-RIMS survey.
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•Date: 18th April 2012 • North America/World •Type: Article • Topic: Enterprise risk management

ASIS International releases Organizational Resilience Maturity Model ANSI Standard
Provides guidance for the implementation of the ANSI/ASIS SPC.1-2009 organizational resilience standard.
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•Date: 16th April 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC standards

Natural Resources Defense Council finds that 29 US States are unprepared for growing water-supply threats
‘Ready or Not: An Evaluation of State Climate and Water Preparedness Planning.’
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•Date: 6th April 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

ANSI-HSSP workshop to explore strategy for CBRNE standards
May 31st workshop will focus on the implementation of US national strategy by private-sector stakeholders.
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•Date: 5th April 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

Winners announced for the BCI North America Awards 2012
The winners of the first BCI North America Awards 2012 were announced last week at DRJ Spring World 2012.
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•Date: 3rd April 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

US hospital preparedness: the intersection of HICS, business continuity and IT disaster recovery
How to integrate HICS and IT disaster recovery into a hospital-wide business continuity program. By Jacque Rupert.
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•Date: 30th March 2012 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Health sector

The emerging threats and risks related to water challenges
The future threats and risks related to water challenges (shortages, poor water quality and floods) have been assessed by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
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•Date: 29th March 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Operational risk management

The top 10 list for winning the battle against insider threats
CERT has issued a useful checklist to help organizations combat insider threats. The advice has been drawn from the CERT Insider Threat Center's case files.
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•Date: 29th March 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Entries invited for the Rick Rescorla National Award For Resilience
New US recognition award announced by Janet Napolitano.
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•Date: 28th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Cobalt combines cloud and recovery center solutions to provide new business continuity service
500-seat Southern Nevada facility combined with cloud-based disaster recovery environment.
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•Date: 28th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Recovery facilities

SunGard Availability Services launches Test Management software
SunGard Availability Services has used the 2012 DRJ Spring World Conference as a platform to launch its new Test Management software.
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•Date: 27th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Business continuity software

COOP Systems showcases innovative interface for smart mobile devices
COOP Systems has been demonstrating the latest development of its myCOOP business continuity software at DRJ Spring World.
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•Date: 27th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Business continuity software

Verizon exercise simulates data center disaster
On March 21st, Verizon’s MERIT team conducted an exercise to simulate a response to an extremely hazardous situation that could occur inside technical network facilities and data centers.
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•Date: 23rd March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC exercises

Chicago businesses advised to prepare for NATO summit disruption
Event will take place on May 20th-21st; the first time an American city other than Washington has hosted a NATO summit.
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•Date: 23rd March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Cloud-based business continuity solutions take a step forward
QuorumLabs uses a hybrid cloud to develop 'instant recovery' solution.
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•Date: 22nd March 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

eContinuity: a new telecoms continuity service
Auto Failover Protection for businesses that have a voice trunking network.
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•Date: 22nd March 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

World’s first Recovery as a Service Platform patent issued
US Patent #8,135,838: ‘System and method for providing data and application continuity in a computer system.’
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•Date: 21st March 2012 • North America •Type: Article • Topic: BC companies

Verizon enhances telecoms continuity solution
As the US storm season begins, Verizon has announced a new addition to its Mobile Satellite Solutions telecoms continuity service.
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•Date: 20th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

DHS announces that AT&T is the first company to achieve PS-Prep certification
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that AT&T Inc. has become the first company to be certified to DHS-selected standards under the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness (PS-Prep) Program.
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•Date: 16th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: PS-Prep

The Canadian Awards for Emergency Management & Business Continuity are open for nominations
This year’s Canadian Awards for Emergency Management & Business Continuity will be announced on June 26th and nominations can be made until May 18th.
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•Date: 15th March 2012 • Canada •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

US private companies and risk resilience
PwC's Private Company Trendsetter Barometer looks at attitudes to risk and preparedness in US private companies.
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•Date: 15th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Enterprise risk management

Risk: boards demand integration
Senior executives are demanding convergence with governance and compliance, according to a KPMG survey.
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•Date: 13th March 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ERM

SIFMA releases initial details of 2012 US financial sector business continuity exercise
Scheduled for October 27th, 2012.
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•Date: 8th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC testing and exercising

NIST publishes guidance on wireless local area network security
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a guide to enhanced security for wireless local area networks.
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•Date: 7th March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

NIST revision of SP 800-53 addresses current cybersecurity threats
Request for comments is open until April 6th.
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•Date: 1st March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

'Storm of the century' may become 'storm of the decade'
Researchers have found that regions such as the New York City metropolitan area that currently experience a disastrous flood every century could instead become submerged every one or two decades.
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•Date: 1st March 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

The Mission Risk Diagnostic Method
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute has developed a new method of assessing risk in ‘interactively complex, socio-technical systems across the life cycle and supply chain’.
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•Date: 28th February 2012 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Enterprise risk management

FEMA schedules PPD-8 consultation events
March 2012 sees a number of physical and virtual consultation sessions to gain input into the Prevention, Protection and Mitigation PPD-8 Frameworks.
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•Date: 24th February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Developing seamless business continuity and disaster recovery plans
Dr. Jim Kennedy provides a framework in which the recovery time objectives for the business continuity and the disaster recovery plan can be developed together.
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•Date: 23rd February 2012 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

One in three companies experienced at least one DDoS attack in the last twelve months
Motivations for attacks differ dramatically between UK and US.
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•Date: 23rd February 2012 • UK/US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

NIST gives more details about National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence
Will enable public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies.
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•Date: 22nd February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Geophysicist highlights lessons for the Pacific Northwest from the Tohoku earthquake
As we come close to the first anniversary of the March 11th 2011 Tohoku earthquake, a geophysicist has told members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that Tohoku is a grim reminder of the potential for a strong-motion mega-earthquake along the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States.
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•Date: 22nd February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery, general

FEMA Seeks Applicants for National Advisory Council
IAEM has reported that FEMA is seeking qualified individuals from the public and private sector to serve on its National Advisory Council.
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•Date: 17th February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

The CERT Guide to Insider Threats: new book
Describes the CERT Insider Threat Center's practical findings on insider cyber-crimes, as well as guidance and countermeasures for organizations.
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•Date: 16th February 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

SunGard Availability Services enhances highly available cloud backup offerings with Amazon Web Services partnership
SunGard Availability Services has announced that it will provide highly available cloud backup through Amazon’s Direct Connect services to both Amazon Web Services and SunGard cloud customers during the course of 2012.
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•Date: 16th February 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

US Senate committee leaders introduce cyber-security legislation
Lieberman, Collins, Rockefeller and Feinstein introduce bipartisan, Bill to secure Fed and critical private sector cyber systems.
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•Date: 15th February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure protection

Disaster recovery failing to catch up with virtualization and cloud: Acronis Survey
US SMBs relying on inadequate backup and disaster recovery methods.
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•Date: 14th February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Business continuity statistics

DHS makes $39.5 billion Fiscal Year 2013 budget request
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has unveiled the Department of Homeland Security’s FY 2013 budget request of $39.5 billion in net discretionary funding.
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•Date: 14th February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

New capabilities dramatically improve data recovery from solid state media
Kroll Ontrack has announced that it has developed unique, proprietary capabilities, significantly improving the quality of recovery from solid state drives (SSDs) in less than a quarter of the time typically required.
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•Date: 10th February 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

Nimbus Launches E-Class flash memory system for mission-critical enterprise and cloud infrastructure
Scales to 500 TB with no single point of failure.
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•Date: 3rd February 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

US terror hot spots identified
US National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism report studies US terrorist incidents from 1970 to 2008.
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•Date: 2nd February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

Research confirms the effectiveness of simple hygiene measures in combatting pandemic influenza
Pairing masks and hand washing can drastically slow the spread of pandemic flu.
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•Date: 1st February 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Pandemic planning

New report for NIST outlines key features of next-generation public safety communications
Creation of a next-generation public safety communications network requires leadership from a single non-profit organization devoted to this purpose, according to a report released by a federal advisory committee.
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•Date: 1st February 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communications

Napolitano presents ‘National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security’
Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has presented the US National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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•Date: 26th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

NIST issues guidelines for managing cloud security and privacy
‘Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing’ (NIST Special Publication 800-144).
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•Date: 25th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

SunGard Availability Services to offer Workforce Continuity Services to Ontario businesses
Strategic partnership with NAV CANADA will allow SunGard to expand its footprint in Canada.
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•Date: 25th January 2012 • Canada •Type: Article • Topic: Recovery facilities

‘Crisis Response and Disaster Resilience 2030: Forging Strategic Action in an Age of Uncertainty’
FEMA has released a new document which looks at the future role of emergency and disaster management in the US.
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•Date: 19th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

The Great Central US Shakeout
February 12, 2012 at 10:15AM CST.
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•Date: 19th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC testing & exercising

NFPA 1600 Technical Committee schedules Report on Comments meeting
The NFPA 1600 revision is currently in the Report on Comments stage, which closes on 2nd March 2012.
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•Date: 18th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC standards

Ability of G20 Nations to withstand cyber attacks benchmarked
A benchmarking study has found that the United Kingdom and the United States lead the rest of the G20 countries in their ability to withstand cyber attacks.
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•Date: 17th January 2012 • Various •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure protection

Seven key considerations when evaluating emergency and mass notification systems
The need to diligently evaluate vendors is critical to ensure that services will meet an organization’s specific requirements:SunGard Availability Services provides a checklist to help in this area.
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•Date: 13th January 2012 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communications

The Business Continuity Institute announces inaugural North America business continuity awards
The BCI will be hosting the first annual BCI Awards - North America at DRJ Spring World 2012.
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•Date: 13th January 2012 • N.America •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Twelve cloud predictions for 2012
Cloud computing trends.
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•Date: 13th January 2012 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

Telecommunications risk management report
Study shows inconsistent adoption of telecommunications risk mitigation practices across enterprises.
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•Date: 11th January 2012 • US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

It’s time to change your mindset…
Business continuity planners who feel that they lack top-level support should stop blaming senior managers: the problem probably lies closer to home. By John M. Stagl.
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•Date: 10th January 2012 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

CERT Resilient Enterprise Management team issues technical note
‘Using Defined Processes as a Context for Resilience Measures’ describes how implementation-level processes can help organizations define measures of operational resilience.
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•Date: 23rd December 2011 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

Advances in self-healing technologies offer potential for greater resilience in electronic systems
In many mission critical applications electrical failures can cause very real business continuity problems; a new technological advance promises to help enhance the resilience of such systems.
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•Date: 21st December 2011 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Department of Homeland Security publishes contingency plan for potential funding interruption
‘Procedures Relating to a Federal Funding Hiatus.’
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•Date: 16th December 2011 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Researchers looking to improve cloud security
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute and MIT are getting closer to the ability to remove the need to decrypt data to make it usable.
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•Date: 16th December 2011 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

Resolve to be Ready in 2012
FEMA kicks off new campaign to encourage American businesses to prepare for disasters.
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•Date: 16th December 2011 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

Hybrid cloud backup expected to be an emerging trend in 2012
Asigra Inc. has listed what it sees as the key 2012 market and technology trends in cloud backup.
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•Date: 15th December 2011 • US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

The growing issue of homegrown terrorism in the United States
Over the past decade, attacks and plots by homegrown US terrorists have increased, the work of extremists from across the political spectrum, says an analysis by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland.
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•Date: 14th December 2011 • US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

2011 a record year for US weather-based disasters
NOAA has reported that, to the end of November, 2011 has seen 12 separate billion dollar weather/climate disasters in the UnIted States, with an aggregate damage total of approximately $52 billion.
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•Date: 8th December 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery general

PPD-8 takes a step forward
National Preparedness System Description published by FEMA.
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•Date: 7th December 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Active 2011 hurricane season ends
NOAA publishes summary: season produced a total of 19 tropical storms of which seven became hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.
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•Date: 30th November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

Insect cyborgs may help in future damage assessments
Research conducted at the University of Michigan College of Engineering may lead to the use of insects to monitor hazardous situations before sending in humans. This could have significant advantages in disaster recovery situations and in conducting damage assessments.
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•Date: 25th November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery general

New NIST tool helps organizations meet HIPAA requirements
Free HIPAA Security Rule Toolkit is intended to be a resource that covered entities can use to support their risk assessment processes.
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•Date: 23rd November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Survey looks into backup and recovery challenges of virtual servers
ESG Research indicates increased need for protection as proliferation of virtualization continues.
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•Date: 18th November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

Emerging risks: Flash Mobs
US retailers need to consider and prepare for the risks of Flash Mobs during the 2011 holiday shopping season, says Marsh.
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•Date: 17th November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Retail business continuity

Preparing a power failure response strategy
Power outages are one of the most common causes of business disruption and a good response strategy requires much thought and planning. In this article Dr. Jim Kennedy explains the steps that should be taken.
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•Date: 11th November 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC plan development

‘Preparedness in the Private Sector – 2011’
Key findings from a new Conference Board report.
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•Date: 4th November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

Cyber Atlantic 2011
On 3rd November the US and the EU conducted a joint cyber attack exercise: Cyber Atlantic 2011.
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•Date: 4th November 2011 • Region: Various •Type: Article • Topic: BC testing & exercising

Draft Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap: comments requested
NIST documents aim to support both public and private sector cloud usage.
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•Date: 3rd November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

Business continuity and disaster recovery are top priorities for next-generation data center design
According to a survey of IT executives.
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•Date: 2nd November 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Data centers

Executive buy-in? It doesn't end there
Middle management also needs to be sold business continuity if corporate inertia is to be overcome. By Nick Johnson.
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•Date: 1st November 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Guide to transport sector business continuity planning published
Free handbook from the Mineta Transportation Institute helps transportation agencies make continuity of operation and continuity of government plans.
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•Date: 28th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Transport and logistics BC

NIST releases update to smart grid roadmap
Includes a Risk Management Framework to provide guidance on security practices.
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•Date: 28th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

KPMG survey finds increasing concerns about information technology risk
Audit committee members see IT risk shortcomings posing threats to companies.
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•Date: 25th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Enterprise risk management

Majority of US small businesses ‘suffer from false sense of cyber security’: survey
The majority of small business owners believe that Internet security is critical to their success and that their companies are safe from cyber security threats: but most fail to take fundamental precautions.
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•Date: 25th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

NOAA issues US winter forecast
Another La Niña winter but Arctic Oscillation ‘wild card’ could have bigger impact; drought in Southern Plains likely to continue.
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•Date: 21st October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Enhanced Canadian Disaster Database officially launched
Provides historical data on regional disasters: will help business continuity managers assess local disaster threats.
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•Date: 19th October 2011 • Region: Canada •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

More than a plan: establishing a disaster recovery program
Glen Bricker overviews ISO 27031 and ITIL IT Service Continuity Management and provides some pointers for choosing between these two ICT guidelines.
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•Date: 18th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

US not well prepared for biological terror attacks
According to a report by the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center.
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•Date: 14th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

First edition of US National Preparedness Goal published
The first deliverable under Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8.
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•Date: 11th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

ASIS International and SHRM release joint Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention ANSI standard
Aims to help identify and prevent workplace violence; and to engage in effective incident management and resolution.
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•Date: 7th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

ANSI-HSSP Tenth Plenary and Workshop examines US Homeland Security Standards progress
‘Achievements from the Past Decade and Charting the Path Forward’, to be held on November 9 in Arlington, VA.
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•Date: 7th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Events

Hurricane Irene: an analysis of the use of social media, crowdsourcing and crisis mapping
A new report examines the role that social media, crowdsourcing and crisis mapping played before, during and after Hurricane Irene.
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•Date: 7th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communication

SunGard Availability Services expands Philadelphia Data Center
Hosts SunGard’s Enterprise Cloud Services as well as SunGard’s Recover2Cloud.
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•Date: 7th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Data centers/centres

Researchers develop technique that offers enhanced security for sensitive data in cloud computing
New technique is called the ‘strongly isolated computing environment’ (SICE).
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•Date: 6th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

US public/private leaders collaborate on ways to fight botnets
A voluntary industry code of conduct to address the detection and mitigation of botnets is needed.
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•Date: 5th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Heidelberg issues business continuity advice for printers
New white paper focuses on the unique issues printers face in keeping production running smoothly in the event of unexpected interruptions.
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•Date: 4th October 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Access blocked to IBM business continuity facility due to accident
The access road to IBM’s Sterling Forest Business Continuity and Resiliency Center was closed yesterday (Monday Oct 3) due to an incident.
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•Date: 4th October 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC markets & companies

US National Flood Insurance Program gains last minute extension
House of Representatives approves four-day extension of government funding through Tuesday, October 4, 2011; vote to be taken on extension to November 18, 2011.
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•Date: 30th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

GTIME Exercise II
Wide scale exercise event: October 13, 2011.
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•Date: 29th September 2011 • Region: Canada •Type: Article • Topic: BC testing & exercising

Private Sector Resources Catalog 3.0
DHS updates preparedness resources guide.
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•Date: 27th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Final National Disaster Recovery Framework published
Document will guide coordination and disaster recovery planning at all levels of US government.
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•Date: 23rd September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

IBM survey looks into views on data storage
Many IT decision makers are looking into the benefits of solid-state storage technology.
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•Date: 23rd September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

New from NIST: Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments
Comprehensive information risk assessment guidance published; open for public comments through to November 4.
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•Date: 21st September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

Joplin tornado offers important lessons for disaster preparedness: NOAA
New report captures lessons learned from Joplin disaster.
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•Date: 21st September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

Business continuity for arts organizations
New ArtsReady online platform provides specific business continuity resources for arts organizations and creative enterprises.
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•Date: 16th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Business continuity software

The 9/11 Opinion Survey
A survey has been published which explores Americans’ attitudes to terrorism and natural disasters and how they have changed since 9/11. Interestingly it compares the views of emergency management professionals with those of non-professional individuals.
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•Date: 15th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

Survey finds a drop in US organizations having disaster preparedness plans in place
US Society for Human Resource Management poll finds that 76 percent of respondents have formal disaster preparedness plans, a decline from 85 percent in 2005.
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•Date: 14th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

Double jeopardy: building codes may underestimate risks due to multiple hazards, say NIST researchers
Current codes consider natural hazards individually: but don’t consider the impact of multiple risk-events such as an earthquake followed by a hurricane or tornado.
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•Date: 14th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC facilities & buildings

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee warns of changing but persistent terrorist threat to US
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine., have warned America not to lower its guard against terrorism now that the tenth anniversary of 9/11 has passed.
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•Date: 14th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

September 11, 2001: A decade on, what business continuity and information security lessons have been learned?
This paper describes research which investigated the impacts of September 11, 2001, on information security and looks at how effective disaster recovery and business continuity prepared to protect information systems were.
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•Date: 9th Sept 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

IBHS calls for a ‘hybrid’ approach to preparedness
A hybrid approach which combines physical security and business continuity planning is required to meet today’s threats, says the US IBHS.
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•Date: 9th September 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Wide-area power outage hits Southwest US
Large areas of Southern California and Arizona experienced a power outage from around 4 p.m Thursday 8th September continuing into Friday for many.
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•Date: 9th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Fukushima: key lessons appear to be going unlearned
The Fukushima reactor disaster is still ongoing six month later and some major emergency planning lessons are in danger of going unheeded, according to three US experts.
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•Date: 9th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Power outages: safe generator use
Power generators are a popular way for small businesses to maintain power supply during outages, but their use is not without risks. The IBHS has produced a useful checklist to help ensure safe generator use.
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•Date: 8th September 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

A decade after 9/11, DHS matures
The US Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee commends department’s development and presses for continued progress.
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•Date: 8th September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

Hurricane Irene update page
This page is being updated with resources and information linked to this storm.
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•Date: 23rd August - 6th Sept 2011• Region: US •Type: Article

US sets out preparedness strategy for CBRNE threats
The National Strategy for CBRNE Standards looks at chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives threats.
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•Date: 2nd September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

US National Preparedness Month kicks off
Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Commissioner Joseph F. Bruno, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, and Ad Council president and CEO Peggy Conlon kicked off National Preparedness Month yesterday in Times Square, New York.
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•Date: 2nd September 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Katia update page
Resources linked to the above Atlantic storm.
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•Date: 31st August 2011 - 2nd Sept • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Not yet assigned

Case study: an interesting example of social media crisis communications
FEMA made effective use of social media during the Hurricane Irene incident over the weekend of 27th and 28th August 2011 and the organization’s messaging makes an interesting case study for business continuity professionals considering the best ways to use social media as part of a crisis communications response.
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•Date: 31st August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communications

SunGard Availability Services launches Recover2Cloud
Cloud-based managed recovery offerings backed by contractual service levels.
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•Date: 31st August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

Six tips for disaster preparation
Advice for business continuity newbies from IBM.
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•Date: 30th August 2011 • Region: World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Are we fear-mongers? Business continuity and the boy who cried wolf
Nick Johnson discusses the pros and cons of using a ‘fear-based’ approach to getting business continuity buy-in.
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•Date: 25th August 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC General

Final report from ANSI-HSSP small business preparedness workshop now available
Details recommendations and findings for small business preparedness.
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•Date: 24th August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC in Small Businesses

National Preparedness Goal: comments requested by FEMA
Deadline is Sept. 2, 2011.
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•Date: 24th August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Critical infrastructure: time to begin anticipating and adapting to climate change
Despite the uncertainties surrounding climate change, it is time to start developing effective strategies that will keep critical infrastructure running in the face of the adverse impacts that seem increasingly likely to occur.
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•Date: 23rd August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Critical Infrastructure Protection

Business continuity and disaster recovery: making a start
Dr. Jim Kennedy provides some helpful thoughts for those new to the profession.
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•Date: 17th August 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC Plan Devevlopment

Measures for Managing Operational Resilience
A new technical report has been published by the CERT Resilient Enterprise Management team.
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•Date: 15th August 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

‘Preparedness: A Principled Approach to Return on Investment’
IAEM-USA seeks feedback on a framework to measure return on preparedness investments.
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•Date: 15th August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency Planning

ISO 28002 Standard for Resilience in the Supply Chain approved by ISO
Based on the ANSI/ASIS Organizational Resilience Standard, ISO 28002 offers organizations a holistic approach to managing supply chain risks.
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•Date: 15th August 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Business Continuity Standards

NOAA updates Atlantic hurricane season forecast
High hurricane activity expected during August through October.
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•Date: 5th August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

Government of Canada announces significant investment for emergency preparedness projects across the country
Over 300 projects will benefit from funding in fiscal year 2011-2012.
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•Date: 5th August 2011 • Region: Canada •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

MIR3 highlights the threat of US wildfires this fall and advises organizations to include response strategies in business continuity plans
With drought conditions expected to fuel above average wildfires through the fall, MIR3 is urging employers to review their current business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
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•Date: 4th August 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

GAO reports on US government use of telework for business continuity
‘Emergency Preparedness: Agencies Need Coordinated Guidance on Incorporating Telework into Emergency and Continuity Planning.’
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•Date: 29th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

IT cost-cutting resulting in more business continuity problems
According to a recent survey by Wakefield Research for HP.
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•Date: 29th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: IT continuity

Business continuity and brand protection
Five steps that organizations can take to bolster business continuity plans to help protect their brands.
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•Date: 27th July 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

GAO reports on critical infrastructure protection and cybersecurity
‘Cybersecurity: Continued Attention Needed to Protect Our Nation's Critical Infrastructure’: GAO-11-865T.
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•Date: 27th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure protection

Management of power outage risks
A continuous power supply is mission critical for the vast majority of businesses, but many don’t take the management of power outage risks beyond a very basic level.
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•Date: 27th July 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Business Continuity Institute and Disaster Recovery Journal announce strategic alliance
Two of the business continuity profession's most influential organizations have agreed to work together.
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•Date: 26th July 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC markets

Report highlights DHS progress fulfilling 9/11 Commission recommendations
Includes details of actions for strengthening resilience to disasters and safeguarding and securing cyberspace.
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•Date: 22nd July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

US-CERT issues ‘Security Recommendations to Prevent Cyber Intrusions’
Technical Cyber Security Alert issued in response to growing number of high-profile incidents.
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•Date: 22nd July 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

How recovery in the cloud can boost Hurricane Season Preparedness
Advice from SunGard Availability Services.
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•Date: 22nd July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Theme announced for September's US National Preparedness Month
"A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare."
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•Date: 21st July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Events

OSHA issues heatwave advice for US businesses
Statement by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on continued heat waves sweeping the country.
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•Date: 21st July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

New research looks at disaster recovery and data backup methods in US small businesses
Carbonite Inc. has reported on new research into the disaster recovery and data backup methods being used by US small businesses.
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•Date: 19th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

DOD details how the US military will operate in cyberspace
Military to take an active role in protecting US organizations and critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
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•Date: 15th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure protection

Firm fined $75,000 for failing to have adequate business continuity and disaster recovery plans
National Futures Association sanctions Capital Market Services.
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•Date: 15th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Financial sector BC

Branding for value in business continuity program development
What is your approach when you are hired by a company and given a blank piece of paper to develop a business continuity program? By Lawrence Robert, CBCP, CBRM, CBCLA.
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•Date: 13th July 2011 • Region: US / World •Type: Article • Topic: BC plan development

NOAA warns that upper Midwest and northern Plains flood threat to continue through summer
Forecasters say this season could rival the Great Flood of 1993.
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•Date: 12th July 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

Supply chain continuity in US SMBs
Saia 2011 National Trends in Small to Medium-sized Businesses study highlights supply chain continuity practices.
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•Date: 29th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

‘Active self-defense strategy’ is the best deterrent against cyber-attacks
Law professor Jay P. Kesan warns that an active self-defense regime is a necessity in cyberspace, especially to protect critical infrastructure.
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•Date: 29th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure protection

NFPA to update FEMA’s Ready Business web content
Contract will bring the content of Ready Business into alignment with the current (2010) edition of NFPA 1600.
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•Date: 28th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Two months of US severe weather results in $21.65bn economic loss
According to Aon Benfield study.
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•Date: 24th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

Does your company's business insurance cover all losses in the event of a disaster?
RGL Forensics helps businesses identify coverage for disaster losses which extend far beyond buildings and equipment.
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•Date: 24th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

Final version of industrial control systems security guide published by NIST
Provides specific guidance on how to reduce the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to malicious attacks, equipment failures, and other threats to the operation and reliable performance of underpinning control systems.
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•Date: 22nd June 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Critical infrastructure

DHS publishes risk management strategy for the global DNS system
Describes how the IT sector and DNS communities can address risks to enhance the resiliency and safety of the Internet and aims to ensure that cyber networks can bounce back quickly if a major attack or disaster strikes.
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•Date: 21st June 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

US Commerce Department proposes new policy framework to help protect companies where the Internet is business-critical
Aimed at businesses that rely on the Internet but which are not part of the critical infrastructure sector.
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•Date: 15th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: ISM

NOAA and coastal states discuss local tsunami preparedness needs
Conference highlights lessons learned from recent Japan tsunami.
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•Date: 14th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency Planning

ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel discusses small business preparedness
Helping US small businesses develop business continuity and disaster recovery plans formed the heart of discussions at a May 25 workshop of the ANSI Homeland Security Standards Panel.
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•Date: 10th June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC standards

IT disaster recovery planning: US and UK comparisons
A survey by Neverfail shows significant differences between the US and the UK when it comes to IT disaster recovery planning.
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•Date: 8th June 2011 • Region: US/UK •Type: Article • Topic: ICT Continuity

Five reasons to move technology business continuity and disaster recovery to the cloud
But don’t do anything until you have conducted a business impact assessment...
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•Date: 7th June 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

FEMA, Red Cross and Ad Council launch US business continuity ad campaign
New Ready Business public service advertisements to urge small businesses to prepare in advance of an emergency.
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•Date: 3rd June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

The 2011 AT&T Business Continuity Study
AT&T has published the results of its annual survey into business continuity planning in the US.
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•Date: 2nd June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

FEMA pressured to speed up publication of National Disaster Recovery Framework
Senators call on Secretary Napolitano to provide a timetable for releasing and implementing the final NDRF.
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•Date: 2nd June 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Cisco highights IPv6 transition resources
New offerings address findings from a new study that reveal concerns about the security, deployment and maintenance of IPv6.
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•Date: 26th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT continuity

Best practices to reduce risk in cloud contracts
A procurement checklist developed by Gartner.
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•Date: 20th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

SunGard to get new chief executive officer
SunGard has announced that Russell Fradin will succeed Cristóbal Conde as SunGard’s chief executive officer on May 31, 2011.
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•Date: 19th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC companies

‘Corporate Governance and Business Preparedness’: Conference Board research
The Conference Board has published the results of three surveys which looked at how involved company boards are in business continuity management.
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•Date: 17th May 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

NIST publishes Draft Guide to Cloud Computing
The cloud computing research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology is requesting public comments on a draft of a new guide to cloud computing.
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•Date: 17th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

Notification system tips
MIR3 has provided a checklist for ensuring that business continuity related notification systems are optimized.
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•Date: 13th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communications

Business continuity salaries and payments in US and Canada
Results from BC Management’s latest BCM Compensation survey.
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•Date: 13th May 2011 • Region: North America •Type: Article • Topic: BC statistics

American Red Cross launches ‘Ready Rating’ to help prepare businesses and organizations for emergencies
The American Red Cross has launched a newly designed web-based service, Ready Rating, to help businesses and other organizations better prepare for emergencies
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•Date: 13th May 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Many organizations face future disruption to mission-critical systems due to failure to prepare for IPv6
Many companies not ready for IPv6: Ipswitch poll. The time to act is now!
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•Date: 12th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: ICT Continuity

Ongoing Operations launches New Virginia recovery center
Middletown disaster recovery center is located approximately 80 miles west of Washington, DC and will help provide more options for businesses in the region.
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•Date: 12th May 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Recovery facilities

Details of the PLAN US emergency notification system announced
Although aimed at individuals, PLAN will be a useful tool for business continuity managers.
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•Date: 11th May 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Crisis communications

IAEM invites entries for Awards Competition
Includes various business continuity related categories. Entry deadline is Tuesday, June 21st.
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•Date: 11th May 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article • Topic: BC general

Five considerations when evaluating cloud computing architectures
Advice published by SunGard Availability Services.
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•Date: 5th May 2011 • Region: US / World •Type: Article • Topic: Cloud computing

US organizations gear up for National Level Exercise 2011
Facilitated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 2011) has been scheduled for 16 to 20 May.
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•Date: 3rd May 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC testing and exercising

Interdependency lessons from the AWS outage
Amazon’s recent AWS outage affected a surprisingly large number of sites. What can we learn about cloud resiliency and how can we minimize these outages in the future? By Beth Cohen.
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•Date: 29th April 2011 • Region:US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Cloud computing

US tornado disaster could be of Katrina proportions
As damage assessments commence, one aid agency says that it expects response needs to be at the level of Hurricane Katrina.
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•Date: 29th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Disaster recovery

PS-Prep ‘Request for Information’ published
Input requested into ‘private sector management of self declaration of conformity’.
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•Date: 29th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: PS-Prep

New ASTM Standard provides general guidelines for the development of emergency operation centers
ASTM E2668 aimed at emergency managers and business continuity managers.
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•Date: 27th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: BC standards

Implementation of US National Terrorism Advisory System announced
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has announced the implementation of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS).
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•Date: 21st April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Terrorism

Presidential Policy Directive gives 60-day deadline for US national preparedness goal and national preparedness system implementation plan
President Obama has signed a new Presidential Policy Directive: PPD-8.
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•Date: 20th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: Emergency planning

Another above-average 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecast
Colorado State University predicts nine hurricanes, with five developing into major hurricanes.
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•Date: 8th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article • Topic: DR general

Don’t forget to submit comments for the 2013 edition of NFPA 1600
May 23, 2011, is the deadline.
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•Date: 6th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Continuity Insights sold
Advantage Business Media buys the Continuity Insights publishing and events portfolio.
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•Date: 6th April 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC companies

ANSI-HSSP workshop to explore preparedness challenges for small businesses
May 25, 2011: 'Achieving Preparedness through Standards Implementation: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Businesses.'
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•Date: 31st March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Events

US earthquake resilience needs strengthening: report
A false sense of security that the US is already earthquake resilient exists.
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•Date: 31st March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Emergency planning

New Cloud Backup and Recovery service from Recovery Point
Provides data backup and disaster recovery as a single integrated process.
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•Date: 31st March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

Attitudes to disaster recovery and downtime
Neverfail has published the results from a survey of 1,473 IT professionals in the US regarding their disaster recovery plans and practices.
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•Date: 23rd March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics

Unrealistic scenarios? C’mon man!
Unpredictability is fast becoming our new normal; and addressing unpredictability requires that we change how business continuity planning programs operate. By Geary Sikich.
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•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Business continuity: now required at most US hedge funds
This article explains the new regulatory mandates and describes a recommended approach that hedge funds can employ to not only meet the spirit and intent of new SEC requirements, but also begin building toward business continuity readiness.
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•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Financial sector BC

Virtual Corporation updates Business Continuity Maturity Model
Virtual Corporation has announced the update of its Business Continuity Maturity Model (BCMM).
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•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

US spring flooding underway: expected to worsen through April
With spring flooding already underway over portions of the US, NOAA forecasters are warning the worst is yet to come.
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•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

FEMA Region 6 and arkansas to participate in national level catastrophic exercise in May
FEMA Region 6 will partner with the state of Arkansas in a catastrophic earthquake exercise in May that will directly involve at least three other FEMA regions, several states and federal partners throughout the US. Scheduled for May 16-19, National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 2011) is designed to replicate a disastrous New Madrid Seismic event in Northeast Arkansas. The purpose of the exercise is to prepare and coordinate a multiple-jurisdictional integrated response to a national catastrophic event. www.ready.gov/nle2011
•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC testing & exercising

President declares major disaster for Illinois
FEMA has announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to the state of Illinois to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a severe winter storm and snowstorm during the period of January 31 to February 3, 2011. Gregory W. Eaton has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53946
•Date: 18th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Briefing: •Topic: DR general

Supply chain management and business continuity
R. Andrew Fernandes provides a checklist of items to consider in order to effectively introduce business continuity management into a SCM system.
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•Date: 16th March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Canadian CSA Z1600 business continuity standard review underway
Revised standard should be ready for publication in 2012.
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•Date: 16th March 2011 • Region: Canada •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Fund manager attacks Iron Mountain performance
Elliott Management sends letter to board of directors of Iron Mountain and proposes four new independent directors.
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•Date: 11th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC companies

Four risks that CIOs should address when contracting for cloud services
Advice from Gartner.
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•Date: 10th March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

Violations cost US disaster recovery company $0.75 million
Beck Disaster Recovery has agreed to pay $754,578 in overtime back wages to 89 current and former temporary field supervisors.
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•Date: 10th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC companies

California superstorm would be costliest US disaster
Total property damage and business interruption costs of once-in-200-year event would be nearly $1 trillion.
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•Date: 10th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Catastrophic preparedness: how ready is FEMA for the next big disaster?
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs schedules a hearing to address this question.
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•Date: 8th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

Major disaster declared for Massachusetts
FEMA has announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to Massachusetts and ordered federal aid to supplement the commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a severe winter storm and snowstorm during the period of January 11-12, 2011. James N. Russo has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53864
•Date: 8th March 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general

Review of disaster recovery and business continuity plan activations reveals common failures
Janco Associates has just completed a review of 253 disaster recovery and business continuity plan activations and classified the shortcomings of those plans.
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•Date: 4th March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics

Smartphones and enterprise systems: don’t let convenience override security considerations
Use your smartphone to log into cloud and secure systems at your peril says Lieberman Software CEO.
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•Date: 3rd March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: ISM news

New NIST publication offers advice on integrating information security risk planning into mission-critical functions
‘Managing Information Security Risk: Organization, Mission, and Information System View.’
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•Date: 3rd March 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: ISM news

US bill to address serious cyber security threats introduced
Legislation will expressly prohibit the President from ‘turning off the Internet.’
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•Date: 24th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Avalution enhances business continuity software offering
Four new features for The Planning Portal.
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•Date: 24th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC software

Solar storm provides a preview of threats to come
"It will be interesting to see how well our technological systems will withstand the rigors of space weather as the sun gets back to higher activity levels," University of Colorado Boulder Professor Daniel Baker.
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•Date: 22nd Feb 2011 • Region: US / World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

A large area of the US is at risk from moderate to major flooding this spring
National Weather Service issues advance warning.
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•Date: 22nd Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

Recent major US disaster declarations
* Oregon
* New York
•Date: 22nd Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing

SunGard releases results
SunGard has reported results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2010.
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•Date: 18th Feb 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC companies

Building a storage-efficient data center
Advice from Len Rosenthal.
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•Date: 17th Feb 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

Equinix launches Business Continuity Trading Services in North America
Business Continuity Trading Room in New York offers disaster recovery for mission critical trading operations.
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•Date: 16th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Recovery facilities

DRI International’s Qualifying Exam re-written
DRI International has announced the release of a completely revised Qualifying Exam for business continuity planning training.
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•Date: 16th Feb 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

Major disaster declared for Utah
FEMA has announced today that federal aid is available to the state of Utah to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe winter storms and flooding during the period of December 20-24, 2010. FEMA named William J. Doran III as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. http://www.fema.gov/news/event.fema?id=13652
•Date: 16th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general

Secretary Napolitano publishes fiscal year 2012 DHS budget request
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has unveiled the Department of Homeland Security’s $57.0 billion fiscal year 2012 budget request.
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•Date: 15th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

Recovery Point expands mainframe hot-site services
Purchases new IBM enterprise class mainframe.
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•Date: 15th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets & companies

US survey identifies the top barriers to data protection deployments
Management complexity, total cost of ownership and network bandwidth are key obstacles to comprehensive disaster recovery initiatives.
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•Date: 10th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

Small business disaster recovery year-in-review: SBA webinar
US small business owners can participate in a discussion on the major disaster events that caused business interruptions in 2010 during a free webinar on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
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•Date: 10th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Events

President declares major disaster for New Jersey
FEMA has announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to New Jersey to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by a severe winter storm and snowstorm during the period of December 26-27, 2010.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53662
•Date: 10th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general

NIST releases draft cloud computing guides
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued two new draft documents on cloud computing for public comment, including the first set of guidelines for managing security and privacy issues in cloud computing.
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•Date: 4th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

SunGard Availability Services announces general availability of Enterprise Cloud Services in North America
SunGard’s Enterprise Cloud Services were previously available only as a controlled customer release.
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•Date: 4th Feb 2011 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

NIST issues final version of full virtualization security guidelines
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the final version of its recommendations for securely configuring and using full computing virtualization technologies. The security recommendations are contained in the Guide to Security for Full Virtualization Technologies (NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-125).
•Date: 4th Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity

US ‘monster winter storm’ : update page
NASA says that a winter storm which has started to impact the US will be one of the biggest in the past half-century. This page will be updated with business continuity and disaster recovery information related to this incident.
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•Date: 1st Feb 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

US and UK discuss global supply chain security
Secretary Napolitano has continued to progress the DHS global supply chain security initiative.
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•Date: 1st Feb 2011 • Region: US/UK •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism

New approach needed to prevent major 'systemic failures'
A Purdue University researcher is proposing development of a new cross-disciplinary approach for analyzing and preventing systemic failures in complex systems that play a role in major disasters.
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•Date: 1st Feb 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

DHS discontinues color-coded alert system
Will be replaced with the National Terrorism Advisory System.
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•Date: 28th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism

Major disaster declared for California
FEMA has announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to California to supplement tribal, state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe winter storms, flooding, and debris and mud flows during the period of December 17, 2010, to January 4, 2011.Sandy Coachman has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=53584
•Date: 28th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general

Cloud backups fail the RTO test
65 percent of respondents to a cloud storage and data protection survey were not able to consistently achieve their own recovery time objective when using the cloud for backup.
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•Date: 27th Jan 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

Business continuity and public cloud computing
Jim Kennedy looks at the different types of public cloud computing and lists the questions that are required for business continuity due diligence.
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•Date: 20th Jan 2011 • Region: USWorld •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity

New IBHS guidelines aim to help businesses reduce earthquake damage to property
‘Earthquake Risk Around the U.S. - How to Protect Your Property.’
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•Date: 19th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

Beyond recovery: the real conversation on distancing between production and recovery
Although often discussed, this topic needs a deeper exploration, says Lawrence Robert.
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•Date: 14th Jan 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Recovery facilities

US Pre-Disaster Mitigation grants bill becomes law
President Obama has signed the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grants reauthorization bill into law.
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•Date: 12th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general

New NIST publications provide recommendations for managing information security as a key component of mission-critical functions
Guidelines recommend an organization-wide IT security risk management approach.
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•Date: 11th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: ISM news

DHS announces partnership with WCO
Agreement aims to strengthen the security and resiliency of the global supply chain.
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•Date: 7th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism

IBHS provides US business owners with severe weather business continuity advice
A useful checklist.
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•Date: 7th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general

FSSI enhances client disaster recovery services with new Dallas-area print and fulfillment facility
To broaden its national footprint for delivery of printed statements, bills, invoices and customer correspondence, Santa Ana, CA-based Financial Statement Services, Inc. (FSSI) has announced the opening of a new operations facility in Coppell, Texas. Strategically located near both DFW airport and a major USPS office, the new plant provides services that include high-volume imaging and inserting, and disaster recovery /business-continuity processing. www.fssi-ca.com
•Date: 7th Jan 2011 • Region: US •Type: Briefing

Alberta gets new business continuity forum
First meeting of the BCI Alberta Forum will take place on January 12th 2011.
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•Date: 4th Jan 2011 • Region: Canada •Type: Article •Topic: Events

A taxonomy of operational cyber security risks
CERT has published a technical note that attempts to identify and organize the sources of operational cyber security risk.
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•Date: 4th Jan 2011 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: ISM news

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Business continuity news and information: North America

Business continuity news and information:
North America