Backups will allow business as usual in case of attack
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WASHINGTON - If terrorists were to strike major US financial centres, the business world would be jarred, but likely not crippled, say industry officials.
The Sept 11, 2001 attacks caused the longest closure of the stock markets since the 1930s, but financial institutions have since installed sophisticated backup computer systems and far more elaborate business continuity plans.
A new assault would disrupt trading only briefly, industry leaders believed.
'In the past, Wall Street has had backup plans in theory, but they were somewhat dusty,' said Ms Bethany Sherman, spokesman for Nasdaq Stock Market, the largest electronic US stock exchange.
Today, 'all of our major systems are redundant, and in some cases we have three backups'.
For example, New York-based Nasdaq has a data centre in Connecticut and another backup centre in Maryland.
The exchange has boosted its computer power enough to handle the trades for every stock listed on all US exchanges, Ms Sherman said.
Even if the electricity failed all along the East Coast, the data centres have several backup generators and enough diesel fuel to keep systems humming for more than a week, she said.
Industry officials had been double-checking their business-continuity plans since Sunday, when Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced 'new and unusually specific information' about possible Al-Qaeda plans to use car and truck bombs to attack financial institutions.
On Tuesday, Mr Ridge met New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki and financial executives in Manhattan.
He praised the industry for its 'numerous drills and exercises to test backup systems'.
Industry executives said an attack should not disrupt services to customers.
'We feel confident that if there were a (terrorist attack) at any particular location, our business continuation plan would take over and it would be business as usual,' Prudential spokesman Laurita Warren said.
Mr John Hall, a spokesman for the American Bankers Association, said bank customers had little to fear from a terrorist attack because all banks were required by regulators to have disaster plans and backups systems in place.
'Banks have a proven record of disaster recovery,' he said. They routinely faced threats from natural disasters, such as fires, earthquakes and hurricanes, so they were well prepared to recover from a terrorist act.
Financial institutions also were stepping up physical security measures. In Washington, traffic near the the World Bank and International Monetary Fund backed up for several blocks in the morning because of street closures and checkpoints where guards used detectors on vehicles entering carparks. -- LAT-WP
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judging from the recent spate of blackouts, our power system does not seem to have the kind of resiliency and sustainability as mentioned above. what is going to happen when a major blackout, as a result of mischief or accident, strikes our core installations and centres that supports our economy?
also, not having faced any major disasters before, and hence not having proven their worth in such situations, do our businesses and the same installations and centres mentioned above have necessary backup plans to ensure that it's business as usual if eventualities should occur?
this is especially crucial for singapore since we are so dependent on trade. -
Some companies in Sg have diasater recovery centres to cater to these threats. My dad used to oversee for this company that specially provides office space and computing power for rent to companies that need a diasaster centre. During the sars period, there were some companies that used their DRCs to separate their human resource...
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i was part of one such effort to separate the workforce. kinda hard for certain types of businesses where interaction between employees is requiredOriginally posted by SilverPal:Some companies in Sg have diasater recovery centres to cater to these threats. My dad used to oversee for this company that specially provides office space and computing power for rent to companies that need a diasaster centre. During the sars period, there were some companies that used their DRCs to separate their human resource... -
and ......... for some IT systems, it's hard and sometimes impossible to maintain full redundancy. moreover, some companies tend to cut corners when the hype about terrorism slows down ...
nevertheless, redundancy causes more jobs for all sectors!
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human is the soul of any business function.
wat is the point of having the data centers working when the orderly of everyday lives is in disarray, living in the midst of fear and anxiety.
are we forgetting the basics of living things... the protection and normal of survival of the basics of living beings be in secondary priority to some "1" s and "0"s...
I know how impt are those to the business survival...but sadden tat Men has placed other non-living beings way above themselves
*Croco, feeling melancholic, goes one corner to cry*
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hmm .... good point.Originally posted by sgboy2004:human is the soul of any business function.
wat is the point of having the data centers working when the orderly of everyday lives is in disarray, living in the midst of fear and anxiety.
are we forgetting the basics of living things... the protection and normal of survival of the basics of living beings be in secondary priority to some "1" s and "0"s...
I know how impt are those to the business survival...but sadden tat Men has placed other non-living beings way above themselves
*Croco, feeling melancholic, goes one corner to cry*
but, perhaps what they mean is for those MNCs, where in the world trade centre's case, the MNC's HQs where located there. with the HQ down .... operations in the rest of the world are disrupted.
the world can't stop for one catastrophe. though 2mins of silence is a great way to show respect.
data in HQ is not just used locally. -
Moreover, most companies allocate their regional headquarters in Singapore.
When information & data are involved, any loss of it will result in computation of dollars and cents.