It led to a few trips away from the office in Dartmouth. We were often making trips to Portsmouth. We worked hard and played hard.
The working group was led by a lady in the Scotstun Yard in Glasgow. BAE regularly booked seats on the early morning and late afternoon flights from Southampton to Glasgow. That allowed the people working at Portsmouth to start early, complete a day's work in either the Scotstun or Govan Yards, and be back home at a reasonable time.
At Dartmouth, I needed a different option. I booked myself on a flight from Exeter, but the return flight wouldn't be for a couple of days later. That assured me a night in a nice hotel and the use of a hire car. It also gave me time to visit an old friend across the other side of Scotland.
We had a hectic time. There was a lot of work aligning all the yards to the same business continuity plans. I probably hear you screaming at the screen, WHAT IS BUSINESS CONTINUITY?
Simply put, if you are walking towards work and smoke and flames are rising from the site, how will you continue working? Now, there are many other scenarios you can think of, and that was what we were working on.
Only a few companies have such plans or even understand they need to be worked on. However, some insurance companies may require it as a requirement for coverage.
BAE systems started taking a greater interest in Business Continuity after the trial of a Patrol Boat from one of the yards. It had been outside the confines of the River Clyde and was coming back when there was a disastrous water ingress; she was flooding. Without power, where she was, she was a danger to shipping. It took quite some time before help and assistance came from the yards. It was an enormous near miss. When all investigations occur, future sea trial outcomes will be two emergency centres, one in each yard, Scotstun and Govan. We visited the Scotstun centre. It was impressive, and when fully manned, it was easy to see that sea trials would be much safer.
What has caused me to write about this somewhat dry subject this week?
On June 3rd, ransomware attacked NHS blood testing company Synnovis. Since that date, the group Qilin has been attempting to extort money from the company. This has affected several hospitals in London and caused the cancellation of many vital operations because Synnovis cannot conduct blood matching. On Thursday, Oilin published 400Gb of personal information on their darknet site.
NHS data is vulnerable to such attacks. It is reported that the United Health Group paid out £17.3m in ransom earlier this year. The publication of the data from this week's attack would indicate that a ransom has not been paid this time, but at what cost?
Health companies worldwide must be firmly in the sights of these cyber criminals. Data security can only go so far before criminals enter systems. What happens next? Business continuity.
In the case of the NHS, it goes back to paper and pens. I have seen it happen in documentaries on TV, and that was a fundamental fault with the system, not a hack.
In my trust, we would return to basic reports and pen and paper. I would be irresponsible to write about how we maintain that process here. Regulatory Requirements ensure that tests of these backup systems are undertaken frequently.
When we first moved to East Devon, the place where I worked required a massive shake-up when I got there. Safety was non-existent, so business continuity wasn't even considered. As much as I attempted to change the culture, the Directors had none of it. That's why I'm working for the NHS these days. I did have the last laugh as I met one of the employees walking past where we used to live. It was sometime between the first two lockdowns. The HSE inspectors visited the factory and immediately shut the place down. 'That was what Stuart was trying to do' was heard.
Consider considering what you would do if denied access to your workplace, especially if you're the owner.
What does this have to do with my writing? What if my laptop suddenly died? It's a thought, isn't it?
Have a great and safe writing week, everybody.
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