Continuity Solutions

31/07/2020

Continuity Solutions is so proud to be associated to this amazing company, They are continually breaking boundaries and pushing the limits,

08/07/2020

06/05/2020

We are so proud to be associated to Teraco.

Teraco is building a second data centre facility in Cape Town, the company has announced.

11/12/2019

This is why Continuity Solutions choses to be associated to Teraco Data Environments Uptime in South Africa is now critical to business's. It our our business to keep you in business.

22/11/2019

Recycling after our Desktop Upgrade,

14/02/2019

We constantly need to stay at the forefront of technolgy. It is with this in mind that Continuity Solutions KZN is undergoing a technology overhaul, We are busy rolling out 150 of the the latest Lenovo i7 desktops with 8 GB RAM and 1 TB HDD's so that your DR experience is as fast as your office. Added to that we have chosen to protect our desktops with the latest Bitdefender TS5.

15/03/2018

FIVE NINE’S FOR SME’S
The principle of the five nines refers to 99.999% percent availability in a given year - and with the exception of the six nines is seen to be somewhat of a milestone achievement. Hiles in The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management even refers to the five nine’s as “chasing the chimera”. Thus the five nine’s can be seen as a sort of Holy Grail for any organisation looking to maximise its up time, but what does it really mean? And how is it achievable?
Starting off with some simple mathematics, for convenience lets say a year has 365 days, 8760 hours and 525 600 minutes - applying the five nines means:
365 - (365 x 99.999%) = 0.00365 days down time per year;
8760 - (8760 x 99.999%) = 0.0876 hours downtime per year;
525 600 - (525 600 x 99.999%) = 5.256 minutes downtime per year.
These figures really do illustrate the mammoth task which achieving the five nines is - that in an entire year only 5 minutes and 15 seconds down time was suffered due to system failure.
The harshest reality of all in terms of operating in accordance with the five nines is that it is extremely costly - additional servers and other hardware, uninterrupted power supplies, generators - the list goes on. This often takes maintaining this level of availability beyond small and medium sized organisations. So how can smaller organisations operate provide optimal availability?
Sean Hull submits that the secret lies in improving data management processes which include the following basic steps:
Test your servers, and your data - make sure you verify back ups;
Monitor load average and disk partitions;
Monitor log files and disk subsetted logs, particularly when considering that a disk is the most likely failure point of hardware);
Perform emergency drills or disaster simulations, for example, if a fire broke out.
A final point raised by Hull is to consider managed hosting - this allows for the benefits of redundant facilities geared towards the five nines standards of availability without the capital expenditure necessary to enjoy the same in - house.
In a South African context, the rapid growth of managed data centres such as Teraco (who now have a total of 10 000 sqm of data centre space across South Africa) provides accessibility to redundant and managed facilities amongst a host of other benefits such as colocation and security.
In conclusion, the emergence of managed data centres which allows organisations (particularly small to medium size for enterprises) access to highly redundant facilities making the achievement of fives nines a realistic possibility, and in a world where constant availability is an ever growing necessity for organisations the use of these centres becomes an accordingly serious consideration for organisations.

20/02/2018

Unexpected Disasters

When the word ‘disaster’ is said, the first things which come to mind are fire, flood, earthquake or terrorism. If we look at the most simple definition of the word disaster – “an event that has an unfortunate outcome” – we can note that it doesn’t even need to be a large scale event to have what can be regarded as disastrous consequences.
Gert Vancoppenolle, in The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management, provides a possible classification of disasters as:
Acts of nature, which are the events commonly regarded as disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes;
External man – made events, such as terrorism and security breaches;
Internal unintentional events, including employee error which results in data loss;
Internal intentional events, which can be easily illustrated as a disgruntled employee(s) striking or removing data;
Non – compliance, from regulatory to legal and even governance failure;
Business failure, as a result of incorrect or unsuccessful business strategies or practices.
It logically follows that in order to prepare for a disaster, and in turn mitigate the harm caused by it, we must be aware of the risk. Upon further analysis, we can also see that many of the events listed above have a low probability of materialising – often resulting in businesses giving the risk little to no consideration. This represents a gap in the thought process between how we approach personal risks, and those posed to our business.
An analogy to this could be the consideration of income protection – from a specific income protection plan to an emergency savings account, all of which are considered necessary and often catered for within our personal capacities despite the fact that the probability of ourselves no longer being able to create an income is uncertain and, although dependant on a multitude of factors, relatively low. Yet, businesses are reluctant to spend time and resources on ensuring that it can continue making an income in the face of an uncertain and low probability risk. This concern is highlighted when the fact that, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (in the USA), only 40% of businesses who suffer a disaster are able to fully recover.
A final point on the consideration of unexpected disasters, and what can possibly be seen as the root of the issue, is the distinction between a disaster and the possible impact on business operations. Too often the low probability of the risk materialising is considered first and then no more thought is given to the matter, whereas business should first be considering the impact of the risk on operations should it materialise, and then moving to the probability of it materialising.
In closing, be cautious of writing a risk off as low probability. The thought of ‘act don’t react’ rings true – considered risks pose less of a danger to business than ignored risks.

30/01/2018

The Auckland Power Disaster of 1998 and the Lessons Learnt From It
In February 1998 the city of Auckland, New Zealand found themselves largely without power for a period of five weeks after the four power cables which supplied the city failed one – by – one. This left many businesses stranded, resulting in the some 20 – block area deserted for the first few days of the outage. Initially, some businesses attempted to bring products out onto the street and sell them there, but heavy rain made this unviable.
The effect of the outage saw some 60 000 of the 74 000 employees in the area reassigned to other offices, and some 6 000 residents in the area relocate. Some businesses estimated that the outage cost them NZ$60 000.
Drawing positives from a disaster, Peter Barnes and Andrew Hiles (in ‘The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management’) identified the following four key lessons that can be learned from the Auckland Power Disaster:
Businesses that had identified their critical business processes and analysed the impact of the risks to business continuance appeared to be able to assess the significance of the disaster early and take timely action.
Businesses that chose appropriate back up and recovery options based on a business impact analysis appeared to cope well with the disaster. The biggest concern raised in this sense is that many businesses who did not have BCP and DR actually couldn’t put monetary value on how much the disaster had cost them.
Businesses that progressed business continuity to a formal planning stage appeared to cope with financial, operational and intangible aspects of the disaster.
Operational issues need to be considered in the business continuity plan, for example:

Logistical factors such as fuel and servicing for generators;
Know your building and the power cable structure within it;
If generator supply is a strategy, check that the uninterruptible power supply will cope.
Although South Africa has been fortunate to not have had a run in with load shedding or the like in the immediate past few years, power supply remains a critical aspect to a multitude of business operations. The above lessons from the Auckland Power Disaster should be well considered when looking at the sustainability of your business operations.
Make sure you have taken all the necessary steps to keep the lights at your business on, literally.

The Continuity Solutions Team

22/01/2018

A recent survey conducted by the Disaster Recovery Journal found that of all potential risks faced by organisations, the most feared risks heading into 2018 are cyber attacks and data breach. Similarly, fin24 has noted that cyber - attacks loom large for the coming year, and that they could dwarf the cyber - attacks suffered in 2017.
Considering that 2017 saw data breaches across the globe were of an immense scale – such as the Equifax breach in the United States of America which saw the personal data of some 147 – million Americans exposed; and the emergence of the WannaCry malware which affected users in over 150 countries – the above prediction does appear to be a daunting prospect. Although the major cyber attacks of 2018 have been tipped to be aimed towards critical infrastructure, data breaches remain to be a threat to all organisations.
However, by taking a few steps you can ensure that you and your organisation reduce your risk (and stress) in 2018:
Stay up to date
Malware such as the WannaCry bug utilised gaps in older Microsoft software. Although Microsoft have since taken steps to patch the flaw, the WannaCry malware exposed the flaws in outdated software and highlighted the need to stay up to date. A company who does not wish to do a complete overhaul of their IT equipment can alternatively look at Microsoft’s ‘Custom Support’ options to stay up to date.
Also stay up to date and be aware of the latest cyber security trends and cyber threats. By no means do you need to aim to be an expert in technology but developing some knowledge and awareness of the latest trends you are giving yourself the grounding to protect yourself from future threats. This can be done by following cyber tech experts (such as Brian Krebbs), reading reports of major cyber attacks and even just subscribing to technology magazine. These factors are most applicable to small enterprises who don’t have the resources to appoint an IT manager or administrator.
Take care of your data, and make sure it is taken care of
As we become more and more reliant on technology, our data is fast becoming essential in an organisations day – to – day operations, ultimately meaning that without data an organisation can’t make money. As the risk of breach increases, ensure that you have regular back ups which are stored off site. Ideally, look to have a hybrid back up system – with data backed up to a managed cloud as well as a physical back up.
Whilst the most suitable back – up method may vary from business to business, generally utilising a hybrid back up allows for an organisation to enjoy the pros of both physical and cloud back – ups. When making a decision regarding your back up option also consider how long you need to be able to recover your data within.
Once you have decided on your back – up system, test it! Often organisations establish what they deem to be an effective back up system but have never actually tested the recovery of their data. Look to schedule at least two tests annually.
Remember, anyone can be attacked at anytime
Whilst the experts may be able to make predictions and provide direction, there is no substitute for being diligent. Stay prepared and do what is needed to ensure that in the event of attack, you can either block it or recover from it.

The Continuity Solutions Team

09/01/2018

Continuity Solutions would like to welcome Tyron Phillip Arnell to our team.