Communication disruption, cyber attack, or infrastructure failure can halt a company’s operations within minutes. Therefore, experts urge businesses to have a clear “Day X” plan today – the moment when critical systems suddenly stop working, according to a press release from “Heximus”.
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The National Cyber Security Center (NKSC) under the Ministry of National Defence points out that recently there has been a rapid increase in registered software vulnerabilities, and advancing artificial intelligence solutions allow them to be found and exploited automatically faster and faster.
NKSC advises to continuously monitor infrastructure, manage vulnerabilities, and ensure rapid response. Among practical recommendations are knowing and constantly updating the list of used systems and internet-accessible resources, timely applying security updates, abandoning unsupported software, assessing supply chain risks, using strong authentication and multi-factor authentication (MFA), and conducting penetration testing.
Resilient business starts with a plan
“Day X” does not necessarily mean a military scenario or a complex cyber attack. Business operations can be disrupted by a power supply issue, interrupted internet connection, cloud service failure, compromised account, supplier problem, or critical system failure.
According to Tadas Burba, IT Development Manager at IT solutions company “Heximus”, in such a case it is important to know exactly not only what needs to be protected but also what to do when protection fails. A business continuity plan should not be a document that the company remembers only after an incident occurs.
“First, it is necessary to identify the main risks and what is critically important to the company. Then alternative system locations, backup communication channels, and how systems would be restored if the main infrastructure fails should be planned. It is also important to understand under what conditions the business could continue operations and under which it could no longer,” says T. Burba.
According to him, similar logic applies to communication. To quickly restore operations, a company cannot rely on just one internet provider or one infrastructure point. Backup communication solutions, different locations, and infrastructure duplication can help maintain operations when usual channels fail.
Backup does not necessarily mean the business is prepared
One of the most common mistakes is to think that resilience is ensured by having backup copies of data. However, having a copy and being confident that operations can be restored from it are two different things.
NKSC recommends not only regularly creating backups but also testing them. For businesses, this means another practical question: how long would it take to restore critical systems if the main IT environment became unavailable?
This question is worth linking to RTO (Recovery Time Objective) – the recovery time goal. If a company has not set how quickly different systems must be restored, priorities during a crisis may be set too late or incorrectly.
“Quickly recovering companies have an automated and regularly tested system recovery process and clearly defined recovery time objectives in advance. Unprepared organizations face ‘dependency chaos’ during a crisis – one non-functioning system blocks another, and recovery is carried out in the wrong order,” says Ramūnas Liubertas, Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at NOD Baltic and ESET expert.
In a crisis, not only technology matters
The expert emphasizes that business continuity is not only the task of the IT department. During a crisis, not only technology but also people, decision-making, and processes are important.
“In fact, a resilient company is one whose ability to survive a crisis relies not only on technology but also on the synergy of people, processes, and decision-making. Backup technological measures alone are not enough – without clear procedures and prepared employees, even the most modern systems can become useless during a crisis. Ultimately, a strong organization can not only withstand the impact but also use shocks as an opportunity to transform and strengthen,” says R. Liubertas.
Another often forgotten risk is dependence on other organizations. A company may have a backup of its own system, but its operations can still stop if a critical service depends on a single supplier, subcontractor, specific data center, or communication node.
This means companies should assess not only their own systems but the entire chain of critical dependencies: from internet and cloud to payments, suppliers, employees, and communication channels.
“Advance preparation for working under unusual conditions is one of the most important factors. During a crisis, there will be no time to create new business models. Alternative communication channels, remote access, function duplication, and regular scenario simulations allow the team to operate without panicking,” added the expert.
Preparation for operational disruptions
Expert T. Burba emphasizes that for most business companies the biggest practical challenge is not the cause of the disruption itself but its consequences: power outage, communication interruption, or loss of data availability. According to him, businesses should take care of several things in advance:
- Data backups in the cloud – so that if local IT infrastructure or power supply fails, data remains accessible from another geographically distant data center.
- Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) – at least for a short time until a generator starts or employees safely shut down systems.
- Remote work infrastructure – so that if the office becomes inaccessible, employees can safely connect to company systems from anywhere with internet access.
- A clear business continuity plan – predefined who is responsible for what action in case of disruption and how information is communicated if usual communication channels fail.
- Alternative internet connection – for example, a mobile or satellite internet solution as a backup channel if the main connection fails.
“It is easy on paper to record that we will have geographically separate backup infrastructure and everything will be planned, but after calculating the real cost, savings are often made and some solutions are abandoned. In such a case, the business continuity plan may remain only on paper and not work in reality as intended,” says T. Burba.
“Day X” shows how prepared a company is to operate under unusual conditions. Pre-assessed critical systems, clear responsibilities, and tested business continuity solutions help restore the most important processes faster in case of disruption and maintain company operations.
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