Which one of the following concerns is not suitable for quantitative measurement during the

Strikes When designing your business continuity and disaster recovery plans, don’t forget about the importance of the human factor in emergency planning. One form of man-made disaster that is often overlooked is the possibility of a strike or other labor crisis. If a large segment of your employees walked out at the same time, what impact would that have on your business? How long would you be able to sustain operations without the regular full-time employees that staff a certain area? Your BCP and DRP teams should address these concerns, providing alternative plans if a labor crisis occurs. TheftVandalism In a previous section, we looked at the threat that terrorist activities pose to an organization. Theft and vandalism represent the same kind of activity on a much smaller scale. In most cases, however, there’s a far greater chance that your organization will be affected by theft or vandal- ism than by a terrorist attack. Insurance provides some financial protection against these events subject to deductibles and limitations of coverage, but acts of this nature can cause serious NYC Blackout On August 14, 2003, the lights went out in New York City and large portions of the northeastern and midwestern United States when a series of cascading failures caused the collapse of a major power grid. Fortunately, security professionals in the New York area were ready. Spurred to action by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many businesses updated their disaster recovery plans and took measures to ensure their continued operations in the wake of another disaster. The blackout served as that test, as many organizations were able to continue operating on alter- nate power sources or transferred control seamlessly to offsite data processing centers. There were a few important lessons learned during the blackout that provide insight for BCP DRP teams around the world: Ensure that your alternate processing sites are located sufficiently far away from your main site that they won’t likely be affected by the same disaster. Remember that the threats facing your organization are both internal and external. Your next disaster may come from a terrorist attack, building fire, or malicious code running loose on your network. Take steps to ensure that your alternate sites are segregated from the main facil- ity in a manner that protects against all of these threats. Disasters don’t usually come with advance warning. If real-time operations are critical to your orga- nization, be sure that your backup sites are ready to assume primary status at a moment’s notice.