FEATURE : BUSINESS CONTINUITY applications hosted in data centres and cloud or from SaaS providers ,” he said . “ The unprecedented switch to remote work and learning creates a massive strain on network , security and application infrastructures . Even the smallest DDoS attack could affect remote user access to corporate resources . Employees must now rely on VPNs to access vital business applications such as finance , HR , and engineering , making VPN endpoints a critical business lifeline .
He pointed out that DDoS represents a significant threat to Business Continuity . “ DDoS attacks can target the mission critical business applications that your organisation relies on to manage daily operations , such as email , salesforce automation , CRM and many others ,” he said . “ Thus , in addition to managing employee and customer experience and ensuring the availability of important services and applications , CIOs and IT teams have the additional obstacle of defending their enterprise against cyberattacks as well .
Rothman explained that leaders need to understand that becoming compliant does not make an organisation secure . “ Just because you have a control in place doesn ’ t automatically make it effective . And sadly , in many instances , the lack of maintenance or skilled management of these controls render them almost useless from the outset ,” he said .
With this in mind , Rothman has some immediate and practical steps to consider on the journey to bolstering cybersecurity ( and ensuring business sustainability in the long-term ).
According to Rothman , harnessing existing assets by configuring them correctly and creating visibility
with smart monitoring solutions will go a long way in bolstering cybersecurity and ensuring Business Continuity in an event of disaster .
Lucas Jiang , General Manager , TP-Link MEA , said CIOs across industries have faced some challenges as their Business Continuity plans were put to the test by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic . Jiang said one of the significant challenges has been around onboarding new employees remotely . “ A Business Continuity plan needs to include the use of endpoint mobility management systems to set up new employees remotely smoothly . Securing company assets has been another challenge faced by many who have moved to smaller offices or moved out of their offices altogether ,” he said . “ CIOs must have a plan in place to help secure company devices virtually and help businesses sync their devices into their asset management . Managing technology that is not sufficient has also been a big challenge faced by many , for which the only answer is upgrading their technology and services to help employees work better and operations run more smoothly .” p
CIOS SHOULD CUSTOMISE
THEIR BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN BASED ON THE SIZE , NATURE AND COMPLEXITY OF THEIR BUSINESS PROCESSES .
www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA 37