Disaster Recovery Journal Summer 2023

When They Ask Why We Do What We Do By JULIUS “JULES” EDWARDS H aving a robust disaster recovery plan is critical for businesses to mitigate the risks of major disrup tions and ensure business continuity for several rea sons, minimize downtime, reduce data loss, maintain compliance, protect repu tation, and improve resiliency. In the last 10 years, there have been many businesses that have reported major disruptions due to various reasons. Here are some examples: 1. Target – with a revenue over $92 billion employing 400,000 thousand employees with 1900 retails stores. In 2013, Target suffered a massive data breach that affected more than 40 million customers. The hackers were able to steal credit card and personal information from Target’s database, resulting in significant reputational damage and a loss of customer trust. 2. Delta Airlines – with a revenue of $47

billion employing 75,000 employees with 700 aircraft serving more than 300 destinations. In 2016, Delta Airlines experienced a system-wide outage due to a power failure in one of their data centers. The outage resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights and caused significant operational disruptions for the airline. 3. Equifax – with a revenue of $3.9 billion employing 11,000 in 24 countries worldwide. In 2017, Equifax suffered a massive data breach which compromised the personal information of more than 143 million customers. The breach resulted in significant reputational damage, legal liabilities, and a loss of customer trust. 4. Amazon Web Services (AWS) – one of the largest cloud computing companies with a market share of 30% operating in 190 countries with a revenue of $45 billion employing 172,000 employees. In 2017, AWS experienced a major

34 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL | SUMMER 2023