Dec - Jan - 20188GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKIN MYOPINIONDisaster Recovery for Government Organizations­Planning, Practice, and Peoplehen the State of Maine computer operator drove to work on that cold, crisp morning in January of 1998, he probably did not realize that he would soon be living in the State's data center, full time. In addition, he probably did not know he would bring his family with him. In Maine, in January, you need heat to survive and thousands of families did not have heat that January. The Great Ice Storm of 1998 hit Maine and Eastern Canada hard. It extended over two weeks. Over half the state's population was out of power for over two weeks, schools and government offices were closed, radio communication systems were out; every state, car, building, and road was covered in a four-inch layer of ice. It made travel impossible and it challenged basic survival. Disasters happen­it could be a cyber-attack that hits your network, or fire at a data center, or a weather event of flooding or ice. Disasters happen. The challenge for all of us is the preparation, execution, and reaction to unforeseen events. And in the government sector, the challenges include securing the funding, determining which services are the most critical, and planning with agency partners. Getting started--analysis Disaster recovery / business continuity consists, like many technology endeavors, of several elements ­ people, process, and technology. The other critical components are analysis and planning. You can't recover all the hundreds of services and systems at once; you must know, before a crisis, what you are going to recover, and in what order. For us at the State of Maine, that means understanding from the governor's office the recovery priority, and understanding from our agency partners what are the most critical things to recover. Interruptions in The challenge for all of us is the preparation, execution, and reaction to unforeseen eventsJim Smith, CIO, State of MaineWBy
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