Cyberterrorism, weather direct or indirect, is an issue all businesses should anticipate and arrange for backup plans. Depending on size of company, backups of backup plan may need to be considered.

Politically charged events frequently unleash a nest of virus', worms and Trojan horses on Internet, and with increasing intensity. In one day, current Nimda virus generated one hundred times traffic that code red virus took three days to do.

A group setup by federal government to counter Cyberterrorism released a report stating that "A personal computer and a simple telephone connection to an Internet service provider anywhere in world are enough to cause a great deal of harm. The right command sent over a network to a power generating station's control computer could be just as effective as a backpack full of explosives, and perpetrator would be harder to identify and apprehend."

To protect your business in event of a disaster you need to identify mission critical information streams that need to be protected. This may include both print material and computer hardware and software.

BACKUP YOUR DATA

Minimizing loss of valuable documents or data can be accomplished quite easily by performing regularly scheduled backups. It is absolutely essential that OFF-SITE copies of backups be kept. This will assure quick recovery from disasters.

Backups may be done using a variety of medias, such as, floppy disks , zip disks, re-writeable cd's, and removable hard drives. The type of media you use will depend on quantity of data being stored.

Larger companies may also consider installing "mirror" servers, which allow same real time information being kept in different locations. Consideration should also be given to outsourcing applications to ASPs (Application Service Providers) which have mirrored data centers.

Any paper documents which are considered critical should also be backed up with help of a scanner and stored off-site. Myriads of paper documents were strewn all over New York following WTC disaster. Many of organizations and companies affected have no idea of what they have lost or even how to recover missing files. Some of which have irreplaceable information and signatures.

ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

High speed access to Internet, i.e. DSL, cable and a couple of others have opened doors to our work areas. I had even recorded attacks on my computer when I was using a local dial up service. The high speed access capability is great, I know that from personal experience. But it does open you up to extra risks since your Internet connection is probably open all day, even when you are not using it.