Week 6: Benchmark – Business Continuity Plan (BCP) – Phase 1

Planning is the quintessential foundation of any program in the professional world. IT and cybersecurity are no different. We plan for the worst and hope for the best. Develop a business continuity plan to prevent and recover from failures in the system.

For College of Science, Engineering, and Technology students enrolled in the course, this assignment will be Phase 1 in the creation of your “Programmatic Business Continuity Plan Project,” which will be completed in stages throughout your programmatic courses. The project will be finalized and submitted in CYB-690 or ITT-660, depending on your major. Review the “Business Continuity Plan (BCP)” and the topic Resources for details about the project.

As you begin the project, it is important to select an industry that is of interest to you. You may select virtually any industry, including retail, education, telecommunications, health care, finance, etc. Create a fictional business within you chosen industry to be the basis for your project. As you develop your project, for Master of Science in Information Technology and MBA in Cybersecurity students, imagine yourself in the role of the Chief Intelligence Officer. For Master of Science in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity and Master of Science in Cybersecurity students, imagine you are the Chief Information Security Officer.

In this assignment, complete the first stage of the “Business Continuity Plan (BCP)” by developing the primary outline for the BCP and identifying key aspects of the organization.

It is important to remember that according to the definition provided in ISO 32302, a BCP is “documented procedures that guide organizations to respond, recover, resume, and restore to a pre-defined level of operation following disruption.”

Review the topic Resources associated with ISO 27001 and NIST SP 800-53, and conduct additional research to prepare for this assignment.

Reference the “FEMA Small Business Continuity Plan Template,” located in the topic Resources and the “Risk Assessment Matrix Template,” to complete the assignment. The FEMA template can be used, but copying and pasting any section of the document for the assignment constitutes plagiarism and will be treated as such. Use your own words when filling out each section of the BCP.

Develop the Phase 1 content for your company’s BCP. Phase 1 should include the following:

• Executive Overview: Be precise and detailed, and provide a thorough understanding of the program.
• Document Change Control: The table should be completed.
• Introduction: Include the overview, plan scope, and applicability that evaluate the appropriateness of cybersecurity frameworks for developing a cybersecurity program to align with business needs, plan objectives, and plan assumptions. Analyze various cyber threat models used to identify and protect against cybercrime threat vectors, motivations, and ideologies.
• Risk Assessment Matrix Template: Using the “Risk Assessment Matrix Template” as a tutorial guide, evaluate system risks, threats, vulnerabilities, practices, and processes to ensure the safety and security of business information systems.
• Critical Business Functions Overview: Detail components that are critical to business operations and provide a clear understanding of what the program is designed to address.
• Company Organizational Chart: Create your own as this is not shown in the sample template. Include the following key positions: CEO, CFO, CIO, CISO, and COO.

Submit the BCP, including the Risk Assessment Components (List of Risks, Risk Matrix, and Risk Calculations) and Company Organizational Chart in a single MS Word document.

Support the BCP with a minimum of three scholarly resources.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Tutorial for Benchmark – Business Continuity Plan (BCP)