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--- business_continuity_planning [2019/08/23 16:50] – neil
+++ business_continuity_planning [2021/07/06 09:26] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ====Key points ====
-  * [Start with a plan|Start with a plan]]
+  * [[#Start with a plan|Start with a plan]]
+  * [[#Document your key devices and systems and say what you would do if they failed or got lost|Document your key devices and systems and say what you would do if they failed or got lost]]
+  * [[#Test your plan regularly|Test your plan regularly]]
+  * [[#Backups are essential|Backups are essential]]
+  * [[#Consider a spare, synced, computer|Consider a spare, synced, computer]]
+  * [[#Protect yourself against Internet outages|Protect yourself against Internet outages]]
+  * [[#Protect yourself against power outages|Protect yourself against power outages]]
+  * [[#Practice working from a remote location (if you don’t do it as a matter of course)|Practice working from a remote location (if you don’t do it as a matter of course)]]
 ====Start with a plan ====
@@ Line 46: / Line 53: @@
 Whether you go for a spare computer, or you plan to rely on a secondary device while you get your main computer sorted, regularly test out your plan. Check that you can actually do your job for a day from your iPad or phone, if that is your backup plan. Make sure your spare computer is kept in sync, and that you haven't made a pertinent change on your main computer which is not replicated on your spare, such as a new piece of software.
+====Protect yourself against Internet outages ====
+Access to the Internet is essential for most law firms, and all the more so if you rely on [[cloud|"cloud-based" platforms]] to run your firm.
+Work out what you would do if your office's Internet connection became unavailable.
+  * Check with your mobile phone provider whether you have [[public_wi-fi#connect_using_your_phone_instead|tethering]] available on your service (and at what price), and test it out.
+  * See if your router takes a USB dongle, with a SIM card in it. It might not be cheap, but having a backup cellular connection in your router might mean short outages are not even noticeable. (If you have fixed IP addressing on your broadband connection, check if your provider can route it down a cellular service in the event of a broadband outage.)
+  * Check if there is a nearby [[public_wi-fi|]]public Wi-Fi hotspot]] you can connect to — and practice doing it, so you know what to do when the need arises.
+  * Check if you any of your services can be accessed only from IP addresses linked with your office broadband. If so, speak with the provider of that service, to see what they recommend — whether you can phone them and get that security parameter lifted for a while, or whether you'll need to specify backup IP ranges in advance (which could be tricky).
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 Test your UPS regularly. If you've set it up properly, you should have absolutely no qualms in pulling out the plug to the mains.
+Warning: although they help from a resilience point of view, a UPS can make a computer more vulnerable in a break-in / theft situation, as an attacker can steal the machine connected to the UPS along with the UPS, and so remove it from your premises without shutting it down or crashing it, giving them time to connect it back to the power. If the machine is vulnerable to an attack while turned on (e.g. because the disk is only encrypted when it is turned off), keeping it attached to a portable UPS increases the risk of compromise / data exfiltration in a theft situation.
 === Consider power banks for mobile devices, and keep the charged ready ===
@@ Line 96: / Line 117: @@
 Make sure you have someone to keep it securely, and that you refresh the fuel in line with the manufacturer's recommendations.
-Practice working from a remote location (if you don’t do it as a matter of course)
+====Practice working from a remote location (if you don’t do it as a matter of course)====
+You walk into your office one day, and find that it's flooded. Or on fire. Or occupied by trespassers. But you absolutely must get some work done before tending to that (or else can rely on someone else to take care of it). Do you know where you would go, and what you would do?
+If you work from a remote location as a matter of course (e.g. from home, or from court), then you might already have a tested plan. If not, now would be a great time to work out where you would go, and then actually get on and do it. Spend a day working from your chosen place, and decide if it meets your needs. If not, find somewhere else, and give it a try.
+Basically, do not wait until you absolutely have to work from somewhere else before doing so.
-Cellular backup
+If you have colleagues and are used to collaborating around a table in the office, work out how you will continue to work together remotely. If nothing else, work out how to do multi-party calling on your phone, and practice it. Try running a meeting over the phone, or via video chat, and see how you get on.
+  * Work out if your chosen venue — perhaps a coffee shop down the street? perhaps from home? — has a high enough likelihood of a power socket being available.
+  * Can you connect to the Wi-Fi? Is the connectivity good enough to do what you need to do (especially if it involves large files, or video streaming)?
+  * Is it just too noisy during normal working hours?
+  * Do you have all the information you need readily available to you?
+  * Do you have the right cables and adapters in your bag, or are they unhelpfully stuck in a drawer?