Major software disasters can happen no matter how strong your prevention measures may be. Wise development teams therefore build small but deliberate changes into their systems and operations so that when disaster strikes, the widescale impact is contained; recovery is faster; and the organisation emerges stronger rather than weakened. We call that ‘Cyber Continuity’.
We at Lancaster and UCL are researching how software development teams can achieve this ‘Cyber Continuity’. We shall identify and characterise practical cyber continuity techniques, then develop training and workshop materials for software development teams can use.
We can then support software development teams—along with product management, operations and managers—in tailoring those techniques to your own software systems and company culture. We’ll also provide workshop materials to help sustain ongoing cyber continuity work.
Background
Interconnected computer systems underpin the success of modern organisations and play a crucial role in everyday life. Their power and ubiquity, however, mean that when something goes wrong—whether through a cyber-attack as in the recent Jaguar Land Rover incident, or through accidental error as with the CrowdStrike outage—the consequences can be devastating. As a result, many organisations are now legally required to prepare for system failure, and many others are doing so proactively for the business resilience it provides.
Preparation often centres on management-level playbooks and simulations, yet there is enormous value in technical continuity practices as well. Examples include regular backup restores; implementing a ‘red button’ shutdown mechanism to limit cascading damage; or having multiple heterogeneous implementations. We have begun cataloguing these techniques and expect to uncover many more.
The Project
The Cyber Continuity research project explores these approaches by combining insights from business continuity, resilience engineering, and the lived experience of professionals who have managed or prepared for major failures. Our goal is to package this knowledge--extending it to cover multi-organisation failures—and deliver it in ways that help software professionals minimise the consequences of system failure.
Every organisation and system is unique, so we shall not prescribe solutions; instead, we shall offer ideas and techniques your teams can adapt to their own context.
The project starts with a Delphi study, gathering and sharing insights with experts through an initial one-hour interview and a follow-up 30-minute session. We shall use the findings to create materials for educational workshops, deliverable both in person and online.
Our initial ideas whitepaper explores the existing literature and legislation around the subject and suggests some initial ‘continuity techniques’. You can read more in our blog here.
Getting Involved
We are keen to help support development teams working on systems with a need for cyber continuity; and to speak with people with experience both planning for and dealing with software disasters.
Interested? Please contact Charles through the link below. We'll be delighted to hear from you.
