CONTENT- MODULE 3: SOCIAL, ORGANIZATIONAL AND PERSONAL ISSUES

Objective #5: Risks or threats associated with Disasters or Disruptions

Risks associated with Natural Disasters and other hazards such as:

Natural disaster

This is the effect of a natural hazard (e.g. flood, volcanic eruption or earthquake) that affects the
environment, and leads to financial, environmental or human losses. The resulting loss depends
on the capacity of the population to support or resist the disaster, and their resilience. The impact
of natural disasters can also affect the viability of many organisations.

Risks

 Loss of lives
 Property damage
 Power Outages
 Spikes or surges

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are natural disasters comprising of mostly of strong winds. When the force of
a hurricane bears down on building infrastructures, building foundations or sections of a building
can become damaged by the storm's powerful winds. These building structure can cause severe
damage the hardware components of computer systems.

Flooding

Storm surge and flooding can cause catastrophic damage to businesses and related computer
systems. More common effects include the damage to building structure as a result of the flood
as well as loss of valuable documents as well as data stored on water damaged computer drives.
These often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace, depending on the extent of
damage.
Earthquakes

Computer systems works with the presence of hard drives and these are normally very sensitive
to vibrations. Generally, though, the only time a rack of servers’ moves is during an earthquake
— and when this happens, the read/write heads are instantly thrown out of position, and
accelerometers then kick in to prevent data loss. As a result, it suddenly becomes very hard to
access data on the disk. The tremors from earthquake which affects computers systems, affects
the frequency and may cause slow or downtime of internet connectivity; thus, limiting social
interaction using technology.

Volcanic Eruptions

Volcanic eruptions come in many different forms and oftentimes have different associated
threats, from ash clouds to lava. Modern electronics are generally well-protected from airborne
contaminants, so short-term exposure to volcanic ash is unlikely to cause damage. However,
functionality may be reduced if ash penetrates sensitive areas (such as keyboards). Ash particles
may block ventilation grills and jam cooling fans, increasing operating temperatures which may
in turn trigger overheating shutdowns.
Ash (if wet) may cause short circuits across exposed electrical contacts. Ash may affect the
functionality and operation of keyboards, mice, compact disk drives and USB ports, requiring
frequent cleaning. Longer-term exposure (months to years) may cause more significant damage,
such as corrosion due to the reactive surface chemistry of volcanic ash. When wetted ash may be
electrically conductive, which may cause hazards for external building electronics, for example,
security system displays, swipe card door locks, alarms, and electrical panels.

Fires

Fires can initiate from external areas such as room or building; or internally within a computer
system. Even if the fire does not touch the computer, the smoke is able to trickle into the circuit
boards and electrical components inside. This can cause not only corrosion but short circuiting,
creating a new risk for an internal fire. Computer equipment, power distribution panels, and air
conditioning units represent a fire load that must not be underestimated, especially because of the
use of plastics. Possible ignition hazards are overvoltage, failed components, overloaded circuits,
faulty contacts and connections, and failure of overload protection equipment.

In just about any fire, plastic components will melt and the average PC today can be anywhere
from 17–40% plastic. This includes the keys in a keyboard, parts of the computer exterior case,
insulation inside the case and even some capacitors and electronic circuits. Whether directly
contacted with flame or affected indirectly by the heat of a fire, plastics will generally begin to
melt before the temperature reaches 500 degrees F.

Once the rubber gasket on a Hard Disk Drive is compromised and holes, however small, can be
seen in the seal, chances are the data on the device is no longer recoverable. This is because any
smoke or other contaminants, once inside the drive, will cause additional damage to the platters
that hold the actual ones and zeros that make up data.

High fire loads exist here in the form of computer equipment in cabinets, wall finishing and
combustibles such as paper. It should be noted that the main ignition hazard comes from the
actions of personnel.

Riots

A riot is a violent disturbance of peace by a crowd, where a lot of disruptions can take place. In
carrying out riots, buildings may be set ablaze, destroying computer systems and other resources.
Weapons and objects that may cause harm or normally used to disrupt regular flow of movement
or business activities.

Strikes

This is an act or series of actions performed by persons who are of the impression that they have
been treated unfairly or to get some form of justice. Strikes normally leads to individuals
abandoning their work obligations, and as such refraining from using and maintaining computer
systems. During this period due to unattendance to offline or online computer security, hackers
or other unauthorized computer users may breach a company’s servers, websites and networks
and cause harm or steal pertinent information. Additionally, unauthorized access may cause
hackers to send e-mails containing false information with forged return addresses so that they
appear to be from trusted sources, in this case businesses. Distribution and replication of
computer viruses may also be sent throughout this time, causing collapse to a company’s ICT
infrastructure.

Acts of Terrorism

Compromised IT can have several disastrous effects including expansion of terrorists’

opportunities to widen the damage of a physical attack. Acts of terrorism occurs by providing
false information that drives people toward, rather than away from, the point of attack. It also
reduces timely responses to an attack, in cases where there is interference with communications
systems of first responders and heightened terror in the population through misinformation, by
providing false information about the nature of a threat.
When an element of the IT infrastructure is directly targeted, the goal is to destroy a sufficient
amount of IT-based capability to have a significant impact, and the longer that impact persists,
the more successful it is from the terrorist’s point of view. For example, one might imagine
attacks on the computers and data storage devices associated with important facilities.

Risks associated with disruptions including:

Power Outages

A business depends on power each day to run its operations. But when the power goes out,
unplanned downtime can occur and that can cost a business thousand or even millions of dollars.
Unexpected outages can lead to situations from which it may be difficult to recover. Power
outages are one of the top reasons data loss occurs. Because computers and operating systems are
complex, they need to shut down properly. An outage causes computers to shut down
unexpectedly and any files that were being worked on could be lost or become corrupted. If
power outages occur frequently, they can damage an organization’s hard drive and reduce its
lifespan.
Spikes

Increases in the electrical supply voltage can lead to power outages. Spikes are often a result of
lightning strikes or short circuits.

Surges

Power surges may occur due to flooding and may cause damage to a business' electrical systems
or fry their computers as a result, and all without ever being exposed to a drop of water.

Power surges may also transpire as a result of power outage, and often leads to equipment
damage. The electrical surges normally occur when the power is restored. Not having a proper
backup power supply or not implementing protection from surges can cause your equipment to
become damaged when the power comes back online. Also, the cost to repair equipment is an
unanticipated expense that could set you back.

 
References

Anthony, S. (2011, August 24). How an Earthquake Affects Hard Drive and Website

Performance. Retrieved from https://www.extremetech.com/computing/93794-how-an-

earthquake-affects-hard-drive-and-website-performance

Foster Fuel Mission Critical. (2018, February 8, 2018). The Effects of a Power Outage on a

Business. Retrieved from https://www.fosterfuelsmissioncritical.com/power-outage-

effects-businesses/

Restoration SOS Educational Staff. (2005). How Flooding Affects Businesses. Retrieved from

https://www.restorationsos.com/education/natural-disasters/floods/how-flooding-affects-

businesses.asp

Tokyo Institute of Technology. (2018, June 28). "Using artificial intelligence to understand

volcanic eruptions from tiny ash." ScienceDaily Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628171415.htm

Volcanic Ashfall Impacts Working Group. (2015, October 12). Computers and Electronics.

Retrieved from https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanic_ash/computers_electronics.html