| UK government failing to develop effective business continuity plans
These worrying findings, published in a market-wide survey of business continuity and disaster recovery by IRN Research on behalf of NCC Group, show government bodies to be most at risk regarding the vulnerability of their IT systems (see table B). Other vital services also scored badly in the survey, calling into question the robustness of UK plc's infrastructure. For example the construction industry employs 1.4 million people and contributes a tenth of the UK's GDP, yet 38 percent of the industry would experience huge disruptions to their operations after losing mains power for a single day (see table C). However, these results are in sharp contrast with those from the financial services sector that sets the standard for other sectors to follow. Of the financial services organisations surveyed, 57 percent of IT systems could function indefinitely in the face of a mains power loss, compared to just 15 percent of government systems. John Redeyoff, head of NCC Group's Information Security unit, explains the impact of these findings: "The findings in this survey highlight the very real threat to IT operations that a long blackout could have and the potential impact on the UK's economy and the social structure of society. "Our statistics show that many organisations across all sectors are still not prepared and are extremely vulnerable at all levels, whether that be to cope with the effects of a blackout, having the capability to run their operations from a remote site should physical destruction of their building occur or a security breach or hack. They must act now to ensure that they could continue to operate rather than allow UK plc to grind to a halt if a blackout or other business continuity scenario should occur." A blackout in the UK, similar to the one experienced in the USA last year, is just around the corner according to some commentators. Professor Ian Fells, a top energy expert and former Professor of Energy Conservation at Newcastle University, has warned that the UK could face similar failures in the event of particular cold weather, saying: "In December 2002, the UK was within three minutes of experiencing a serious blackout. The current energy set-up is forcing power companies to cut production to the minimum with the result there is not enough spare capacity in the network."
•Date:
10th March 2004 •Region: UK •Type:
Article •Topic: BC
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