Corporate Intranets, Disaster Response and Business Continuity; Hard lessons about infrastructure and risk

Jonathan Liebenau, PhDLondon School of Economics

&Columbia University

Why an intranet!

The problems

Understanding the risks Varieties of response Assessing your readiness Adjusting intranet architecture Managing perceptions Accommodating regulators’

expectations

The Risks Valuing information and communication Types of disasters

Contained Major fire Electricity outage Targeted attack

Local Neighbourhood or district “lockdown” Hurricane, earthquake, etc.

National or regional disruption

The 1918 flu pandemic killed more people than the First World War

Mayfair and Canary Wharf on the Envt. Agency flood map

Flood in Chicago’s business district disabled many intranets for 3-15 days

Any of these might involve large scale loss of services from critical staff

London effectively evacuated on 7 July

The argument (1) Indispensable

Your intranet is likely to be an indispensable element of corporate communications and data handling.

The argument (2) Weak boundaries

The boundaries between your intranet and the networks of which it is a part, and indeed the whole world’s network of networks, is fading.

The argument (3) Realm of Exchanges

Infrastructure is a realm in which many forms of exchange take place.

Most exchanges look like communication functions

Some look like market relations All are governed by rules and norms

that provide enough stability to allow for predictability

The argument (4) Innovation is necessary

We must accommodate at least enough unpredictability to allow for innovation (or else our systems will stagnate until they are radically superseded).

The argument (5) Very high risk

A major disruption to your intranet can destroy a very great deal of value.

Networks need to be Diverse

At least two distinct pathways for every action Redundant

Duplication of very piece of equipment Transparent

End-users cannot detect transmission differences Manageable

End users can manage their own telecom services Scalable

A customer can increase or decrease the amount of data it transmits

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doitt/downloads/pdf/building_a_21_cent_telecom_infrastructure.pdf

Lessons from MARC 1

Risks perceptions ephemeral Coordination is an active function

that needs to be regularly practiced

Voluntary federated systems are govern by norms

They risk suffering “the tragedy of the commons”

Intra-organisational coordination is analogous to a “commons”

Govern the disposition of resources Distribution of responsibilities Norms and rules for a wide range

of property rights conditions and exchange

Intranets may be part of “critical infrastructure”

Guidelines for business continuity can be set by government Effort by the US Security & Exchange

Commission to set a 200 mile standard for backup sites

BSI comment on “walking distance” Any such regulation would be

disruptive

Conclusions

Intranets are elements of the network of networks

Risk perceptions change for infrastructure

We make commons work all the time. This is one we MUST make work!