Probably one of the most interesting questions to ask when reviewing a cyber crisis reaction document is the phone number of the cloud hosting platform that is chosen to be the one to store the back ups of all critical systems of an organization.
Chances are that the survival of your company relies on this single back up stored on A co- located, and very complex, And insanely diverse and dynamic environment the likes of which are incomprehensible by a human being.
I know, your IT people are of the best on the planet! Hands-down!
However, what is the head of IT has on vacation far away? And the second in line just happens to be stoned with a hooker in a brothel?
No, the third in line may be available, But he’s not going to be as familiar with the systems, and a back up routines as the other two.
Wouldn’t it be good to have someone on speed dial that is capable of giving you at least an overview, and assisting third in line in performing a disaster recovery just in case?
Many cloud service providers advertise fast and almost immediate email support. And while that may take the edge off, it’s not going to be sufficient to have faith in such a solution when your entire organization‘s well-being is on the line.
Only take this example for what it’s worth… It’s just based on experience, and the first thing that came to my mind when writing this blog entry.
Is your cloud service provider contactable in case of crisis?
If you put me in a room for three hours I will probably be able to give you 100 more good reasons to consider this in your cyber crisis reaction procedures.