Assume that you have been hired by a small veterinary practice to help them prepare a contingency planning document. The practice has a small LAN with four computers and Internet access. This clinic provides services for dogs and cats only. These services include office visits, surgery, hospitalization, and boarding. The clinic is located in a geographical region that is regularly threatened by hurricanes. The one-story building is constructed of cement block, with no windows, and meets all hurricane-related building codes. The clinic does accept animals for boarding when a hurricane threatens, as public shelters for local residents do not allow animals. Tasks:

1. Prepare a list of threat categories and the associated business impact for each. Identify preventive measures for each type of threat category. Include at least one major disaster in the plan.

2. You are now in the phase of developing a business continuity plan for the same veterinary practice. Describe the basic activities that must be managed by the BCP. Develop plans for alternate site relocation, and develop an estimated monthly budget for the alternate site operations.

3. Do an analysis of the types of files that should be considered critical for backup purposes. While it is common to focus on databases and other data files for standard business processing, consider other types of information such as email messages and contact lists, appointment calendars, system logs, PBX configuration files, etc.

4. You will now prepare the incident response plan. Create a list of stakeholders for the IR planning committee. For each type of stakeholder, provide the reasons for inclusion and the unique aspects or vision that you believe each of these stakeholders will bring to the committee. Develop an outline for a training course for general end users. Justify the topics that you have included in your outline.

5. Write an after-action report in the case of the clinic being hit with a hurricane. What recommendations would you make to improve the IR plan that was previously written?

6. Create the disaster recovery plan. Create the scenario and recommended during, after, and before actions for a major hurricane, including preventative controls and strategies.

7. Develop a list of vulnerabilities that the veterinary clinic may have in the event of a major hurricane. What strategies for business continuity will be appropriate for the clinic? Create a report that provides an analysis and recommendations.

8. Research and write a report detailing the various crisis management software packages that are available. List key features of each, and create a comparison chart. Which of them, if any, would work for the vet clinic?

9.The federal government uses many techniques to ensure that multiple high officials are not exposed to the same vulnerabilities at the same time. For example, the president and the vice-president would be taken to separate safe areas in the event of an armed attack on the country. Draft a set of company policies that would help to avoid the loss of more than one key executive in a single crisis. Describe the relative costs of each strategy you present.