The ISO 17799 compliant disaster Recovery Planning (business Continuity) Template is Version 4.2.  The template has increased in size from 140 pages in version 3.1 to 189 pages in the current version.  New with this version of the disaster Recovery Planning Template are: Added Section defining the ISO 17799 compliance requirements Reviewed and modified entire DRP/BCP template to ensure compliance with ISO 17799 business & IT Impact Questionnaire updated to meet ISO 17799 compliance requirements Added Best Data Retention and Destruction Practices section

Myanmar: Unrealisting Expectations
Andrew Selth at The Interpreter says “governments and international agencies calling for immediate action in Burma seem to be over-estimating the regime s capacity to respond”

China: 7.8 scale earthquake felt across most of China
Around two hours ago, an earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter scale struck central-west China, with tremors felt as far away as Beijing and Hong Kong. Twitter seems to be a top source of breaking details for the moment; Beijing-based tech guru Kaiser Kuo writes that the government Earthquake Bureau website is currently inaccessible, presumably from […]

Erasing Files Is A Must For Secrutiy
When you delete a file from your hard disk, it may seem as if it is gone forever In truth, however, this is not the case.  You must wipe it clear “serveral” times or someone can find traces of the data that was there orginally.The reason why file deletion is not as thorough as it can be is a simple one; resource management. Actually overwriting every bit of every file that is to be deleted will use more resources than would be practical, for everyday use. And in fact, this simple file deletion is usually sufficient for the basic user s needs.The seemingly permanent process of file deletion actually leaves the file data still on the hard disk. When a file is deleted, it is simply marked deleted , and the space that it occupies on the disk is accordingly marked ready for use . Hence, it may be overwritten when more disk space is required, but this is by no means certain, unless the entire hard disk is filled with data.Now, the actual data that make up the file is still on the hard disk, even after deletion. This makes it available for recovery, usually done using specially designed data recovery programs. MSDOS, in fact, has a built-in UNDELETE command which may recover recently deleted files.However, secur ity considerations might necessitate the complete erasure of a given hard disk or collection of hard disks. When reassigning hard disks, for instance, or switching computers around, confidential data might need to be deleted. To lessen the possibility that this data is recovered, a hard disk wipe may be performed.When a hard disk wipe is performed, the entire area of the hard disk is actually overwritten with random data. This means that the data that used to be on the hard disk becomes much harder (practically impossible) to recover after such a process. Almost no traces of the previous data that used to be on the disk is left, making a hard disk wipe a secure improvement upon ordinary file deletion.The metadata or information on the data that used to be on the hard disk is also wiped clean, since the entire space of the hard disk is overwritten. The randomness of this data used to overwrite depends on the algorithm used to generate it. Some hard disk wipe programs give users the choice to select the algorithm they want the program to use. However this is not as necessary for hard disk wipe programs as it is for file shredder programs, which wipe individual files. This is because when it is the entire hard disk that is wiped, the degree of randomness of the overwriting data is not anymore as important.Performing a hard disk wipe is often as easy as clicking a few buttons in a specially designed hard disk wipe program. Some programs are set to run automatically when a CD containing the program is placed into the computer containing the hard disk to be wiped. This makes it easier to perform batch wipes on many computers at once, and makes the hard disk wipe a feasible security solution for multiple hard disks.

Bangladesh: No appeals for Burma?
imperfect world 2008 wonders why no charity appeals are being made for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma.

Myanmar: Unprecedented cyclone disaster
Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last weekend which devastated five regions. State-run media reported that more than 22,000 people are found dead with another 41,000 missing. The death toll could still rise. Residents and bloggers are condemning the slow relief work of the ruling Junta.

ISO 17799 Template Released
The Security Manual for the Internet and Information Technology is over 200 pages in length.  The template is compliant with ISO 17799, Sarbanes-Oxley, Patriot Act and HIPAA. All versions of the Security Manual template include both the business & IT Impact Questionnaire and the Threat & Vulnerability Assessment Tool (both were redesigned to address Sarbanes Oxley compliance).   In addition, the 

The Components of a Good disaster Recovery / business Continuity Plan
The disaster Recovery / business Continuity Plan is a critical document. Lack of clarity will invariably result in time being wasted and, as already mentioned in this document, time is an extremely valuable commodity. The disaster Recovery / business Continuity Plan should make clear: Activation  Who is responsible for making the decision to put the disaster Recovery / business Continuity Plan into action? Who is responsible for should that person be unreachable? What information will need to be provided to that person? Who will provide that information? How will teams be notified? Recovery   How will each critical process and system be recovered? Who is responsible for performing recovery operations? Do particular processes or systems need a diversity of recovery options? Who will decide that option to implement? That elements of the recovery process could or should be outsourced? What elements will need coordination and contact with other teams? To what alternative sites could operations be relocated? Who is responsible for coordinating the recovery process? Who needs to be notified when a system is recovered? Who is responsible for making that notification? Rebuilding  Once the emergency recovery process is complete, what needs to be done in order to restore completely normal operations? Contacts   What are the names and contact information for key personnel? For vendors and suppliers? For contractors to that functions have been outsourced? For offsite storage?

Myanmar: Survivors of Cyclone Nargis
A week has passed since Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar. The situation on the ground continues to deteriorate: food rationing is inadequate, medical supplies are running out and hundreds of thousands are still without shelter. Bloggers continue to discuss the impact of the cyclone and the relief efforts to help the victims.

VMware EMC SRDF cross site-standby
Hi folks, Trying to draft our a DR solution for VMware, hope to get some clue here. Environment Setup Site 1 ESX server1 with vm1 and vm2 virtual machine running on LUN1 (EMC box1) Site 2 ESX Server 2 with vm3 and vm4 virtual machine running on LUN2 (EMC box2) Site1 LUN1 is replicated to Site2 using SRDF Site2 LUN2 is replicated to Site1 using SRDF Questions 1. Solution for VHA ESX1 to ESX2 if ESX1 failed ? 2. Solution for VMotion vm1 from ESX1 to ESX2 ? 3. Solution if Site1 failed, will Site2 overtake all vm and up automatically ? Thanks.