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Blackout scenario of companies and institutions which are important from the point of view of consumers is more and more likely.

Should it occur, we will personally experience how strongly the modern world is connected digitally and depends on uninterrupted access to information.

For example, one day, it may turn out that we will not be able to withdraw money from an ATM, we will not be able to fly on holidays, settle matters at a public office or rent a bicycle on a warm, sunny weekend. The reasons for such state of affairs may be very prosaic – for example, loss of power, fire and the related inability to perform tasks or lack of access to the Internet.

A few years ago we witnessed a situation in which the fire of one of the Warsaw bridges damaged fiber optic cables running through it and paralyzed part of enterprises and public institutions that did not have backup links and disaster recovery plans allowing quick recovery of IT systems in the event of a failure. The research we conducted at that time showed that as many as 52% of companies experienced breaks in access to the Internet and the power grid over a period of 6 months. Interestingly, that situation in 41% of cases caused limitation or suspension of activities – sometimes even for a few days. It shows the scale of threats.

The black scenario may also come true due to the increasing activity of cybercriminals. Infections such as WannaCry or Petya, which affected hundreds of thousands of computers this year, have proven how vulnerable the infrastructure of seemingly secure enterprises and institutions is to new vectors of attacks. Crackers attacked not only public administration, but also the financial, telecommunications and production industries, which, after all, spent significant sums of money on security.

The IDC firm estimates that in a few years companies and institutions will process more information than consumers. The dependence on digital information is so heavy today that companies need to have a plan to quickly restore their IT systems and applications in the event of a breakdown or cracker attack. If they fail to do so, the blackout scenario and associated paralysis are quite real.