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Re: Homeland Security Alert System

  • From: Martin Hannigan
  • Date: Fri Feb 21 16:28:32 2003

On Fri, Feb 21, 2003 at 03:32:12PM -0500, [email protected] wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Feb 2003 14:41:05 EST, Martin Hannigan said:
> 
> > Example: DHS sets RED level. Reaction: Move some third level 
> > engineers into the SOC. Audit the DR plan if it's not on schedule
> > to be audited. Audit the backup plans if not on schedule to be
> > audited. Light the medium warm NOC to HOT NOC level.
> 
> Do you buy fire extinguishers when there's no fire, or do you do it
> when the smoke alarm is already going off?  Or is this the converse, where
> a leaky roof doesn't get fixed because you can't work on it on rainy days,
> and on sunny days it doesn't leak?

DR is a continous loop. It's not the kind of thing you 
develop and then toss on a shelf. Right now is always a good 
time to audit your DR planning, or your disaster prevention 
planning.

[ SNIP ]

> If you audit your backup plan, and discover you're low on tapes to send
> off-site, what are the chances that we'll still be at RED when the tapes
> actually arrive from the vendor?

If I didn't audit the backup plan, I wouldn't discover I was low
on tapes. The state of the alert is irrelevant when related to the
DR plan. It's the event itself.

I believe there is no bad time to conduct a drill or audit
a DR plan. In fact, confusing or non-standard conditions would
be optimal for such a test or audit.

-M