Although a business continuity plan now typically covers more than just IT aspects, that doesn’t mean that IT issues are static. With mobility exploding among users in 2012, security threats are growing at the same rate as well. Worse still, they are affecting not only traditional software download and email delivery routes, but also the social networks hailed as the new marketing vector for businesses in general. How can you simultaneously ask people in your organisation to get involved in Facebook for example, and protect them from the now inherent security risks?
While the answer to that question is currently being worked on in a never-ending game of catch-up between security experts and cybercriminals, a first step is to be aware of the problems involved. Depending on your business and your IT policies, your business continuity plan may put more or less emphasis on malware threats of computer viruses and spam. However, now that social networks are so popular, only an outright ban on access to them at work could stop employees connecting to them during office hours. And not only does prohibition like this have a way of backfiring, but with the growing trend of “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD, employees can connect to whatever they want once they’re out of the work environment.
Malware threats that can impact your business continuity plan are indeed numerous. They include fake computer security programs and infected search engine results (yes, including Google’s), hacked social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and smartphone viruses that find their way into iPhones and Android phones, among others. If you’d like to know more about what’s already on the prowl in cyberspace and some initial measures you can take for protection, you can download the Sophos Security Threat Report (2011) from the Opscentre website.