Charting a Course for Cyber Resiliency

Whether from a natural event, a human mistake, or a deliberate attack, a disaster can potentially disrupt your normal business function to the extent that your ability to conduct normal business operations is seriously impacted. A resilient organization is one that is able to quickly adapt and recover from a disaster. The first step is to develop a strategy that will get you back to business-as-usual, known as a Continuity of Operations Program (COOP).

In addition to preparing your organization to respond to and recover from a disaster, an important objective of your COOP is to minimize the impact on your essential services. Tyler Cybersecurity professionals focus on developing response strategies, recovery and resumption plans, and document detailed procedures in order to ensure the sequential resumption of critical systems. In addition, we will design and conduct realistic and practical tests to ensure that the program functions as intended.

The Tyler Cybersecurity Methodology

Tyler Cybersecurity’s methodology ensures that the COOP is impact-centric, priority-based, and time-focused.

• An impact-centric program focuses on the impact of an event upon the organization rather than the event itself. The impact of threats to the organization can fall into one or more classifications: technology, facilities, or people. The program addresses each of the impact classifications.

• A priority-based program identifies critical information systems, supporting infrastructure and essential service and ensures a sequential resumption in accordance with organizational objectives.

• A time-focused program recognizes that, based upon the depth and breadth of the event, the duration of impact may vary and incorporates time frame based strategies.

Tyler Cybersecurity’s phased approach can be scheduled according to your organization’s objectives, resource availability, and funding.

Phase 1: Business Impact Analysis / Documented Response Strategies.

Phase 2: Documented Recovery Strategies, Plans, and Procedures for Technical Infrastructure and Systems.

Phase 3: Testing, which includes:

• Leadership Tabletop Exercise - The objective of the exercise is to evaluate the Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Plan from a leadership response and continuity of operations perspective. The expected outcome is the verification of the adequacy of the plans, as well as recommended plan revisions, identification of plan and/or procedure gaps, and follow-up tasks.

• Department Simulation - The objective of a Simulation is to test preparedness in a controlled environment. Simulation testing involves presenting a department or team with a scenario that simulates a disruption of normal business operations. The team must determine the impact, decide upon the appropriate course of action, choose the right procedure, and test the documented instructions. The team will be asked to perform critical business functions while faced with the constraints of a simulated disruption.

• Restoration of Identified Systems - The objective of the Restoration of Identified Systems is to test the documented recovery strategies, plans, and procedures for prioritized resumption of selected systems. A successful test provides reasonable assurance that the identified procedures are complete and usable, that the recovery systems are available and properly configured, and that constituents understand their role.

Reports and Recommendations

• Business Impact Analysis / Documented Response Strategies
• Documented Recovery Strategy, Plans, and Procedures
• Training Objective, Scenario, and Response Synopsis
• Issues Identified, Organizational Impact, Lessons Learned
• Business Continuity Plan Recommendations