E-Business
Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan for Small Businesses
Businesses need to plan for when disaster strikes. Whether it’s a fire, a major flood, or a cyberattack, there’s always a chance that something could happen that disrupts their operations.
This is particularly important for small businesses. Available data suggest that between 40% and 60% of SMEs without a set response plan for a major disaster will shut down permanently when that disaster happens.
Organizations that want to recover quickly from these events should have a Disaster Recovery plan in place. Such a plan enables them to cope, and bounce back within the shortest possible time.
What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan?
A Disaster Recovery (DR) plan is a document that’s created by an organization, detailing the steps it will take to ensure that it quickly resumes work in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.
The principal aim of such a plan is to ensure the recovery or continuity of vital organizational infrastructure, including IT systems. Unless these resources are brought back to functionality, the affected business will struggle—and fail –to run normally and serve its customers.
A critical part of the Disaster Recovery process is safeguarding or replicating data that may otherwise be lost when a disaster strikes. In the past, this involved a lot of physical work, from recalling data stored in hard drives to setting up IT infrastructure in a physical location, getting support staff to conduct maintenance, and engaging security to protect the facility.
These steps are costly and time-consuming. But today, businesses can bypass these processes by leveraging cloud Disaster Recovery.
Cloud Disaster Recovery: The Basics
Cloud Disaster Recovery works because it involves recalling and using data and applications that have been backed up in the cloud.
If the cloud is supported by infrastructure located on a different site from where the disaster struck, it will enable the organization involved to resume its workloads within a few hours or even minutes of the disruption occurring.
There are three approaches to cloud Disaster Recovery (DR): cold DR, warm DR, and hot DR.
Cold DR is the simplest of the three approaches—it just involves storing data or virtual machine (VM) images. But its recovery process is the most time-consuming of the lot, as users will have to download the stored data when a disruption happens—a process that may take a long while to complete.
In Warm DR, data and applications are duplicated, and these duplicates are stored with a cloud DR provider. They are also updated to conform to the originals. When a disruption happens, they can be accessed from the DR provider on a virtual machine (VM). This may take just a short while, but there’s still some downtime experienced.
In Hot DR, both the primary data and the DR site are running simultaneously. When there’s a disruption to the former, the latter remains active, and work can continue on it without any downtimes. This provides the quickest resolutions of the three alternatives, but it’s also the most expensive of them.
Besides the time savings that come with cloud DR, there’s also the benefit of backing up data in multiple locations, the ease with which cloud DR can be implemented, and the fact that it’s scalable.
Creating a Cloud Disaster Recovery Plan: The First Steps
Although cloud-based Disaster Recovery planning is often thought of as the preserve of large companies, small businesses are apt to develop a DR plan that will work for them. As has already been noted, it will protect them from a lot of losses, and strengthen their push for business continuity.
The first step to take in creating a Disaster Recovery Plan is to assess existing IT infrastructure. Things to note include their specifications, quantities, how much each asset is worth, and where they are stored. It’s also important to note possible risks to them, whether this is prolonged power outages, natural disasters, or cyberattacks.
Next, businesses will want to analyze the possible impact that a disaster could have on their operations. Two things have to be considered here.
First, the Recovery Time Objective (RTO), which is the upper time limit for when operations have to be restarted or else the business would begin to be negatively affected. There’s also the Recovery Point Objective (RPO), which is the maximum amount of time a business can bear data loss due to a crisis.
The smaller the RTO and RPO are, the more significant the effects of a disaster on the business tend to be.
After ascertaining what the RTO and RPO are, the business may proceed to create a DR plan based on them. For example, if these indices are much shorter, the organization in question can plan around having a Hot DR approach. But if these indices are longer, they could settle for a warm DR or even a cold DR.
Getting Expert Help: Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)
Often, a Disaster Recovery plan will have to include working with a vendor that provides Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS). They could help with the next stages of the cloud DR plan, including building cloud DR infrastructure and putting the Disaster Recovery plan on paper.
A good deal of the planning process remains the responsibility of small businesses. For example, they will have to test their plan often to ensure that it works well. This may be done quarterly.
Yet, DRaaS providers play a key role. Working along with these vendors, smaller organizations can design a plan that’s suited for them, and their plan with minimal hiccups.
When choosing a DRaaS partner, SMEs will want to go for one that’s reliable, provides service that scores high on usability and scalability, and makes setup and recovery as easy as possible. These factors are crucial for making DR plans a success.
Layer3Cloud takes care of these concerns with its DRaaS offering. Its product guarantees the restoration of service within minutes, the limitation of outages, and the security of virtual operating environments. It’s flexible and scalable and assures users of significant geo-redundancy.
Let’s help you protect your business’s IT assets from disaster. Get in touch with our consultants here.
Over the past four years, gold has risen by more than 400%. The precious metal has long been one of the most traded assets in global financial markets. From its role as a traditional store of value to its sensitivity to inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainty, gold continues to attract traders seeking efficient and predictable trading opportunities during a period of global uncertainty and high volatility.
JustMarkets
For traders looking to effectively access gold markets, choosing the right trading environment is as important as timing their entry. One of the most popular and effective gold trading platforms is JustMarkets, offering the tools, conditions, and infrastructure to enable traders to achieve their most ambitious gold trading goals.
Tight Spreads on XAU/USD
Cost efficiency is a critical factor in gold trading, especially for active day traders. JustMarkets offers extremely competitive XAU/USD spreads, allowing traders to open and close positions with reduced transaction costs. Lower spreads can significantly impact short-term strategies, where precision and timing are key to effectively entering a trade. By minimizing trading costs, JustMarkets helps traders focus more on market analysis and finding the ideal entry point, and less on overhead.
Fast and Reliable Execution
Gold is recognized for its volatility, especially during the day, especially with economic announcements or geopolitical events. Speed is of the essence in volatile markets. JustMarkets provides high-speed execution of orders, which helps minimize the risks of delays, especially during periods of high volatility. This ensures that traders are able to respond better to market conditions, thereby having better control over trade management.
Flexible Trading Conditions
Each trader has their own approach to gold, ranging from intraday trading to position trading. JustMarkets offers flexible leverage and account types, enabling traders to adjust their exposure based on their risk tolerance and trading style. This flexibility is suitable for both conservative and aggressive traders while still allowing them to access the same global gold market.
Advanced Platforms and Tools
Successful gold trading is based on thorough technical and fundamental analysis. JustMarkets provides access to industry-standard trading platforms equipped with advanced charting tools, multiple timeframes, and a wide range of indicators for recognizing divergences and clear entry points. These features help traders analyze price trends, identify key levels, and plan their trades with greater confidence.
Accessibility via mobile devices and computers via the JustMarkets Mobile Trading app also ensures traders can monitor positions and market movements from anywhere and at any time.
Education and Market Support
Gold is also affected by factors such as inflation rates, central bank policies, and currency fluctuations. Understanding these factors is important for developing a structured trading strategy.
JustMarkets offers resources for traders, which provide information on how global events can impact the price of gold like case studies, daily, bank and weekly analysis. This is a knowledge-based system, which enables the trader to make more informed decisions rather than relying on the price movements of gold.
Trading Activities That Keep Gold Traders Engaged
In addition to the competitive trading environment, JustMarkets also runs various special activities and campaigns that aim to make the trading experience more interesting. At certain intervals, the special activities may include trading contests on specific trading instruments, such as gold, which are highly sought after by traders. This will give the traders an added impetus to keep trading.
The special activities are designed to encourage trading, consistency, and skill-building among the traders, along with the additional motivation for the trading strategies. This is also in line with the overall philosophy of JustMarkets to create a dynamic trading environment where trading, learning, and motivation are linked together.
A Trading Environment Built for Gold Traders
Gold is still one of the most dynamic markets with the greatest number of opportunities in the world. With tight spreads on XAU/USD, fast execution, flexible trading terms, and access to advanced analytical tools, JustMarkets creates an optimal trading environment for those who want to trade gold efficiently.
In addition to the comprehensive educational assistance, JustMarkets continues to position itself as a strong competitor for traders who are looking for professional trading conditions combined with growth opportunities.
Microsoft is stepping up its push to expand artificial-intelligence adoption across Africa as competition intensifies with Chinas DeepSeek for influence in one of the worlds youngest and fastest-growing digital markets.
The company plans to train 3 million Africans on its AI technologies this year through partnerships with schools, universities and other institutions, with a focus on South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco.
The effort reflects Microsofts broader attempt to accelerate adoption of its AI ecosystem across emerging markets where developers and enterprises are increasingly experimenting with generative AI tools.
Alongside the training initiative, Microsoft is working with MTN Group (MTNOY), Africas largest telecommunications company, to distribute Microsoft 365 and its Copilot digital assistant to about 300 million subscribers.
The Elevate program is designed to expand AI literacy and reduce cost barriers that might otherwise limit adoption, according to regional leadership.
The push comes as Chinese technology firms expand their footprint across the continent, with DeepSeeks open-source models accounting for roughly 11% to 14% of chatbot use in several African markets and reaching about 20% in countries such as Ethiopia and Zimbabwe following investments tied to digital infrastructure and telecom networks.
Microsoft is also increasing its infrastructure investment in the region.
In South Africa, the company plans to invest 5.4 billion rand, or about $330 million, to expand its cloud and AI capacity by the end of next year, while it is also exploring plans for a geothermal-powered data center in Kenya.
Early corporate adoption is emerging across the continent, with South African grocer Spar Group using Copilot in ways that save more than 700 employee hours annually and Nigerias Access Holdings integrating AI into daily workflows.
Regional leadership has suggested broader AI adoption could potentially contribute up to $1.5 trillion to Africas gross domestic product by 2030 if governments and businesses continue investing in digital infrastructure and AI skills.
Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) has uncovered a new Android malware campaign in which cybercriminals distributed the BeatBanker Trojan under the guise of the Starlink application for Android.
Threat actors primarily target users from Brazil; nevertheless, Kaspersky experts don’t rule out that users from other countries may also face this threat.
The Trojan employs a Monero cryptocurrency miner and additionally installs a BTMOB remote administration tool (RAT) on the infected devices. To maintain its persistence, BeatBanker uses an uncommon mechanism involving a nearly inaudible looped audio file.
“At first we saw BeatBanker being distributed under the guise of a public services app; it installed a banking Trojan in addition to a cryptocurrency miner. However, our recent detection efforts uncovered a new campaign with another BeatBanker variant that deploys the BTMOB RAT instead of the banker module.
The attackers appear to be using a fresh lure with the Starlink app to reach more victims from different countries. Therefore, it is important for users to stay vigilant and use advanced solutions to protect their smartphones,” comments Fabio Assolini, Head of the Americas & Europe units at Kaspersky GReAT.
Initial vector of infection
Kaspersky experts believe that cybercriminals distribute a fake Starlink application containing the BeatBanker Trojan through phishing pages that mimic the Google Play Store. After execution on a compromised device, the Trojan displays a user interface that also mimics Google Play. Cybercriminals trick victims into granting installation permissions, thus allowing the download of additional hidden malicious payloads.
Crypto mining and BTMOB RAT module
When a user clicks UPDATE on the fake Google Play page, a Monero cryptocurrency miner deploys. BeatBanker monitors battery percentage and the temperature of an infected smartphone, as well as user activity after which a hidden cryptocurrency miner is started or stopped.
The Android Trojan also installs a BTMOB RAT on the compromised device. BTMOB enables full remote control and is sold as Malware-as-a-Service.
It is capable of automatic granting of permissions, hide system notifications and has mechanisms designed to capture screen lock credentials, including PINs, patterns and passwords on compromised devices. The malware also gives cybercriminals access to the front and rear cameras, GPS location monitoring and constant collection of sensitive data.
To ensure persistence and hinder uninstallation, BeatBanker maintains a fixed notification in the foreground and activates a foreground service with silent media playback. This tactic is designed to prevent the operating system from removing the malicious process.
Kaspersky’s products detect this threat as HEUR:Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.BeatBanker and HEUR:Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Banker.*.
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