Disasters do occur. It is not a matter of if, but when. Businesses are always at risk, and sometimes the inevitable happens — a power outage occurs, a natural disaster hits, a pipe breaks and floods the server room, a file goes missing, or an unsuspecting employee clicks on a bad link.

While we don’t control the weather, can’t always prevent a fire, nor completely protect ourselves from the malice of a hacker or phishing campaign, we can plan for these unexpected events.

• Are you in a low lying area more prone to flooding?
• Are you in a high theft area?
• Are you in a building without adequate fire suppression systems?
• Is your server infrastructure aging and at risk of failure?
• Are your users trained on how to identify a phishing campaign?

• How can you protect your computer system from hackers?
• How will you duplicate all file documents and back-up all computer programs?
• Will you arrange for off-site back-ups of your data?
• Will you periodically test your ability to restore a backed-up file?
• How will you create a complete record of all your open matters and associated contact information?
• Will you make arrangements for remote access to all your electronic records?
• Will you have a central place to store records of all critical business information including bank accounts, insurance policies, hardware and software programs and serial numbers, employee benefit policies etc?
• How will you access all this information in the event of a power, or internet failure?

• Make sure your systems and applications are up-to-date with all security patches downloaded and installed.
• Use a strong anti-virus that can protect from spyware and adware collecting personal or client information from your computer, and monitor your internet activity.
• Strengthen passwords, encrypt data, and control and monitor access to your systems.
• Create office policies relating to technology use in your firm and regularly train staff on these data security measures.
• Establish multiple systems for backing up data – full system back-up of your client and practice information and daily back-ups with some back-up versions stored in a secure, off-site storage location.