Cloud based system supports business continuity because it facilitates business
capabilities even in disasters. It allows business to operate on a global scale and offer
effective cloud computing solutions. Even though there are security concerns, it is
necessary to have to keep businesses a float any event there is a disaster. However,
there are potential risks that can be transferred to cloud providers but the advantages
out weigh the risk. Cloud-based services and implements are generally robust and
reliable, and are a perfect solution for business continuity purposes. We are always
looking for ways to ensure the CIA triad is properly maintained in the IT
environment, and using the cloud as a platform to virtualize our services and systems
is becoming smarter, quicker, and more cost-effective ever day. It would be short-
sighted to disregard the clear advantages of leveraging the cloud for our purposes in
almost any situation. Whether I want to run a single script or an entire Platform,
Software, Hardware, and Backup as as Service (PaaS, SaaS, HaaS, BaaS, Etc.) I have
the ability to virtualize anything at a moments notice and have access to exactly the
system I want with exactly the computing requirements I need- and usually in a
moments time.To be able to not only virtualize our systems for power purposes and
be able to replicate them for both use and backup reasons is one thing, but then on
top of all the virtualization we can access this data globally in a matter of minutes
(or less!). It really is amazing to see what we can accomplish using computing-on-
demand these days, which not only hits both confidentiality and Integrity, but when
Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) is considered we are nearly assuring current and
future accessibility- simply as long as continue paying for said space online. Cloud-
based systems and services can have a major part in business continuity because if
something like a disaster should strike said business the cloud based system will be
virtually unaffected in a lot of ways. the business will be able to regain access to its
important systems if they are on the cloud. The cloud has many advantages and
disadvantages that all play a major role in the decision of major companies to go with
a cloud based system or service provider. when thinking about business continuity
many major companies may want to go to a cloud-based service because they may
feel like they are more protected when something bad happens to their home based
system but they must first think of every aspect of that system. many cloud -based
systems are great when it comes to storing your important systems off site but that
does not mean that they are not impenetrable they can still be attacked and vulnerable
from the outside. attackers can still wreck havoc and gain access to important
documents or systems that are secret and important in nature.
Cloud-based systems are great when it comes to having a way of keeping things off
site and out of the way from a direct disaster that could bring down a business in
many other ways.
Business continuity is a critical area for all org orders especially for IT. Developing a
plan takes all areas of the organization. Cloud or hybrid is growing for all business to
keep competitive. Cloud all an organization to continually provide service to client
even if there are disasters or business interruption by threat attackers. This is
completed by partnering with third-party resources to deliver software application
which reside in various location to clients. This in theory could will give the options
to spin up environment either at the same hub or other locations. This also provides
or limit the security of employee errors or virus being added by internal threats.
Cloud also offers things such as making your environment robust in it's response,
accessible when required, and reduce the cost on the organization for things like
distribution centers, hardware which can be high is cost.A quote to why going to the
cloud for business continuity, by Kurt hildebrand, from the Connection, "An emerging
viable tool for disaster recovery is the cloud. Because cloud computing relies heavily
on hardware-independent virtualization technology, it enables enterprises to quickly
back up data, applications, and even operating systems to a remote data center (or
cloud). Faster uploads and downloads of important computing elements naturally
translate into faster recovery times for the business." Cloud-based systems can support
business continuity in the means that should a database be taken offline due to natural
disasters or an attack, there is always a way to retrieve the data needed to continue
operating. The cloud storage can hold many terabytes of data and is off site from the
business itself. This is great because if anything ever happened to your servers at the
office there is a backup of your data. Though you must also be careful as like any
other system the cloud can be afflicted by malware or be brought down as well.
Always monitoring your network is key to keep this from happening. You can store
everything your company needs on the cloud, some businesses even operate fully off
of the cloud and do not have their own databases at the office. This can have some
drawbacks if the cloud is taken offline because then you cannot reach important data
in the event of a disaster or attack on your network and databases.The cloud is even
useful for retrieving data for a new system if your old system is lost or stolen, If you
encrypted your files, they are safe if your system is protected with a strong password.
The cloud will allow you to recover your data with much less loss than if you had
lost all of your data along with the system. Cloud-based systems support is an on
demand pay-as-you-go self-service that provides off site data storage and computing
flexibility. Cloud-based systems support optimizes scalability by outsourcing
computing, reducing IT infrastructure and upkeep costs. While adding a level of data
loss security cloud-based systems support opens a business up to another type of
vulnerability. One: companies need to adhere to compliance violations guidelines. Two:
identity theft due to hacking can lead to diminished customer trust and that can
potential effect revenue. Three: Malware infections and data breaches and can come
from the cloud-based systems support. It is obvious that there are quite a few benefits
of using a cloud-based service for business continuity planning. One of the most
obvious benefits would be the ease of access to files and applications. The benefit
comes from the company being able to save time due to more efficiency with
employees being able to get work done remotely and meet deadlines without having
to actually come into the office. With that being said and although cloud computing is
efficient and effective, there are still risks associated with using cloud-based services.
Risks such as information being stored on the web instead of locally in the office can
make the information open to hackers and attacks. Due to having these kinds of risk
factors, it is imperative for a company to properly set-up their cloud-based service to
reduce the risk of threats and/or attacks on their sensitive data. Companies can use
their own cybersecurity team to secure their data and safeguard the risk of being
compromised. If a company does not have a cybersecurity team, they can always hire
a team from a cybersecurity company in order to properly set up their cloud-based
systems to safeguard the company's sensitive data. Cloud base-System is the on-
demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud
storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user.
Business continuity may be defined as "the capability of an organization to continue
the delivery of products or services at pre-defined acceptable levels following a
disruptive incident”, and business continuity planning.Cloud-based systems support
business continuity by storing their data. Most businesses fall victim to nature or
human made computer disaster therefore the cloud base system store sensitive
information and data and help businesses to speedily backup those sensitive
information and data. Cloud base system make it easy for companies’ staff to easily
access their information or data when away from the office which help them to work
remotely. Companies safe financially using could base system because most are very
reasonable in price. Potential risks can be transferred to cloud providers when
someone in the company use services for an unauthorized cloud provider therefore it
is helpful to always do search on licensed providers before purchasing a could storage.
Risk can not only be cause by company staff but also by cloud provider staff. Cloud
provided should provide the company with strong security. Cloud-based systems are a
great way to support businesses continuity. A business continuity plan should be
created along with a Disaster Recovery Plan in the beginning stages of any critical IT
infrastructure. Cloud-based systems allow a business to create an alternative method of
continuing their day-to-day business int he event of any form of disaster. That disaster
can be natural, man-made attack(s), or anything conceivable with respect to business
essentials and needs. Cloud-based systems can have different types, as some can be
utilized to immediately continue with business demands without any operation
interruption. While others have a time-frame in which they can have a business back
up to either partial or full business demands. One drawback to some cloud-based
systems as a business continuity is a lack of data privacy and possible security. This
is due to someone else being in possession of the data that needs to be stored in case
of a disaster. Not all businesses will operate the same and its smart to keep data
integrity with encryption. Along with being useless in the case of a denial (any form)
attack, the more people that are added to being "hands on", the more risks a user or
business start incur. They are still a very viable and useful service, as they allow a
business to bounce back from a barrage of attacks or disasters; as long as backups
and updates are performed routinely. Cloud based systems helps organizations quickly
back up sensitive information, systems, and applications. Because of the faster
upload/download speed, it allows for a faster recovery time. A cloud-based system
also helps with business continuity due to its accessibility, urgent response from cloud
computing services, and its affordability. Some of the risk that comes along with
cloud providers are jurisdictional, lack of privacy and data security, availability, and
unauthorized access. All of these risks are serious and can cause issues for an
organization. The Availability risks stick out to me due to the potential of not have
your information available when its needed. A cloud based system is very efficient,
but does come with its risk.
Cloud-based systems and services are often ideal options for critical parts of a
Business Continuity or Disaster Recovery Plan. My previous work experience I had
the opportunity to work for a data center and two career colleges. Both had a
Business Continuity which allows the data center to continue it's business no matter
what happen.
Data Center
The Data Center I had the opportunity to work for did not have just have one center
but many in different locations. Management had a Business Continuity Plan to keep
things operational for the clients. If one data center went down in California, then
clients would be switch to the data in Florida. Business Continuity plan says no
matter what situation we're in, our clients still need support. It was all part of a
Cloud-Based system that had data storage for over one million clients.
Careeer College
At the career college it had the same Business Continuity Plan for it's staff and
students. No matter what incidents that took place related to technology we still had
to staff and students to support. Business Continuity was to support the campus with
additional cloud based system. We had the opportunity to work with one of biggest
data center in the United States Data Bank. We backed up all student's and staff
information to be there for the just in case. One day we had a fire at the Jacksonville
campus and students had then state test. We sent students over to the Hot Location a
place set up just like the main campus. It flow so smoothly everyone forgot there was
a fire.
Cloud-based systems can be helpful to protect business continuity in the event of a
local failure. The most common use for cloud services is data storage. Examples of
this business continuity tool are direct synchronization of business data and web-based
consumer interfaces. Direct synchronization of business data can include digital
receipts, customer payments, and business records. This process ensures whatever
business data is stored locally will also be immediately or periodically synced to a
cloud server as a backup. Consumer interfaces are essentially web services that host
business websites. They handle consumer payment data, email notifications, and
shipping details. The business effectively outsources its online needs to the cloud. The
business receives the money and service notifications as they occur.
The risks can be transferred to a cloud provider due to the large scale and extensive
security and backup measures already set in place by these large companies. For small
organizations, it is highly recommended to utilize cloud backup and web-hosted
services for their needs. For a business to perform all this on its own could prove to
be quite challenging and expensive.
One of the most misunderstood of the risk factors in the cloud involves security. It is
widely and erroneously believed that you outsource all of the security to the cloud
provider. This is simply not true unless you specifically engage the cloud provider
and/or a third party to handle specific parts of the security program. Even then, you
are not completely relieved of security responsibility. Generally speaking, the cloud
provider is responsible for security of the cloud. This means they are responsible for
the security of the underlying systems and architecture across all the cloud. The
company (meaning the tenant in the cloud) is responsible for security in the cloud,
meaning the space they occupy in the cloud. If you build a server in the cloud, you
are responsible for its configuration, patching, users, and all other aspects of security.
The cloud provider does not even have access to this virtual machine. Cloud-based
systems are used by businesses as software as a service, platform as a service, and
infrastructure as a service. Companies choose these cloud-based systems because they
provide flexible pricing, reduced infrastructure, and faster updates.
Catastrophes either natural or human created are unavoidable. Having a backup plan
that can readily be implemented is the key to easing everyone's mind and workload
during a disaster. Having a continuity plan ensures the company continues to make
money or selling product after one of these occur.
The cloud helps recover a business first by being accessible in an emergency.
Traditional business continuity plans can be encumber some. Costing a lot of man
power and time dedicated to just getting the company and employees working again.
A cloud based system automates a large portion of this process. Making it a reliable
option as a disaster recovery plan.
The main concern when determining if a company should use a cloud-based system is
security and privacy. Having all of this data across multiple access points can lead to
unauthorized entry. Leading to security and privacy concerns.
Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity (BC) have been around for decades
now, much longer than the "Cloud". While the Cloud has certainly been paradigm
shifting, the basics of DR and BC haven't changed much. Disaster Recovery is the
planning required to recover the Data or Information Systems that a business requires
after they have been damaged or otherwise made unavailable due to a natural or man-
made disaster. The "old" way of doing this is to have a secondary or DR data center
that has the capacity to assume the full load for the company. The cloud allows the
capability of building a Data Center in the cloud to perform the same function. Even
more impressive, the Cloud can be built so that it is internally redundant across
multiple availability zones. The functionality available in the cloud give IT decision
makers many more options. Cloud-based service providers do provide business
continuity for organizations for more than just a network infrastructure, or an IaaS
(Infrastructure as a Service). They also offer power, space, and cooling as part of the
service plan your organization can utilize. As an example of why this is important;
the network infrastructure needs a specific amount of power (usually on an UPS -
uninterruptible power supply) to run safely and reliably should a power surge or
outage occur. This can protect your organizations UP Time which translates to
increased data integrity which equates to more productivity. Another example would
be the required space that is often overlooked. Having the proper amount of space for
all the racks of servers needed to perform all the functions the organization needs to
run the business, like web servers and storage. And let us not forget about the cooling
aspect of the facilities. This is a critical part of the puzzle. Without proper cooling,
the servers would overheat and shut down to protect themselves. With all the
considerations businesses must consider when they plan their network infrastructure,
you can see why leasing an IaaS makes good financial sense. Typically, the facilities
that house these data centers usually come with a full-time staff that monitor and keep
them running smoothly. Having a full-time staff to perform maintenance and other
various functions twenty-four hours a day is awfully expensive. These are some of the
reasons a business should rely on a cloud-based system for proper business continuity.
Cloud-based systems can support business continuity by storing your information into
a cloud based software, rather than the actual computer hardware itself. This way, if
there is a natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, flood, etc. and your hardware
is destroyed, you will still have access to your information, and will be able to
quickly access it. When ;picking a cloud provider, they are going to be taking on a
lot of risks for you in protecting your information. It is important to do your research
on a good cloud provider, so they can protect you and your information from viruses,
being hacked, disaster plans, etc. A good cloud provider will offer you compliance,
data security and privacy, availability, and will not allow any unauthorized access.
Some risks that are also transferred to the cloud provider are identity theft, compliance
breaches, lost customer trust, and compliance violations. So in a way, the cloud is
kind of like your safety net, and every buisness needs to have one. It would not be a
bad idea to make it a requirement for bug companies. Cloud-based systems support
business continuity in so many ways. For example, according to EC-Council (2020),
lots of companies become victims of natural disasters, hackers' attacks, or other human
error-related issues. This means that using a backup of the company is not enough
rather than the use of a cloud system for backup. (Par. 1)
EC-Council (2020) stated It does worth mentioning that there are several components
to build a business continuity plan including:
• Building business resilience.
• Requiring specific licensing for the entire staff.
• Creating a plan with an efficient system to stop phishing campaigns.
Unfortunately, potential risks can transfer to cloud providers leading to lots of issues.
Basically, the main risks include:
• Theft of identity
• Data breaches and malware infections
• Violations of compliance
• Decrease of customer trust and possible loss of earnings
A lot of people have a hard time understanding the difference between a Disaster
Recovery Plan and a Business Continuity Plan, but it is in actuality very simple. z The
Business Continuity Plan (BCP)is a detailed plan to restore business functions after a
disaster, natural or man-made. The Disaster Recovery Plan is a detailed plan to
restore the business data so that it may be accessed after a disaster. Of course, the
business data must be available to restore the business functions so that in some cases
where the Business and the Data Reside together, the Disaster Recovery Plan is part
of the Business Continuity Plan. If they do not reside together, they are considered
separate plans as you may have a Disaster Recovery without a Business Continuity
recovery or vice-versa. zz
According to www.inap.com “business continuity is an organization’s ability to ensure
operations and core business functions are not severely impacted by a disaster or
unplanned incident that take critical systems offline.” Cloud-based system is a
hardware and software introduced by a third party. It makes applications, services, or
resources available to users via internet from a cloud computing server. Business
continuity is vital to any company. Cloud-based services will be a beneficial addition.
Cloud computing services greatly depend on hardware virtualization tools, it helps with
speeding up the process to backing up their sensitive information, data, operating
systems, and applications to the cloud. With quicker uploads and downloads of
computing features, results to quicker recovery times and business continuity for the
organization. Some potential threats can be transferred to cloud providers are
compliance violations, identity theft or data breaches. These can be transferred by
cloud clients to cloud providers. According to www.akamai.com “Due to the high
volume of data stored on the cloud, which requires an internet connection to store this
data, anybody using cloud services is potentially at risk of cyberattacks.” However not
all risks can be transferred to cloud providers.
