Operational Resilience and Cyber Resilience are essential to any organisation's success in operational resilience. While these terms may seem similar, they have distinct differences and similarities that set them apart.
This blog will detail the differences and similarities between operational resilience and cyber resilience.
Operational resilience is the ability of an organization to withstand and recover from operational disruptions, whether caused by internal or external events.
Operational resilience involves identifying critical business functions and ensuring they can continue operating during a disruption. It also consists in developing plans to recover from the disruption and return to normal operations as quickly as possible.
Cyber resilience refers to an organization's ability to:
- Prevent, withstand, and recover from cyberattacks and other cybersecurity disruptions.
- Maintain critical functions in the face of cyber threats.
- Adapt to new and evolving cyber threats.
Cyber resilience is broader than cybersecurity, focusing primarily on preventative measures to safeguard information systems. It acknowledges that cyberattacks are inevitable and focuses on ensuring the organization can bounce back effectively when they occur.
Differences between Operational Resilience and Cyber Resilience
| Operational Resilience | Cyber Resilience |
| Scope | |
| Takes a broader perspective, focusing on the organization's ability to deliver critical business services during any disruption, not just cyberattacks. This could include disruptions caused by natural disasters, power outages, pandemics, or even human error. | Focuses specifically on the organization's ability to withstand, adapt to, and recover from cyber threats such as hacking, malware attacks, and data breaches |
| Threats Addressed | |
| Considers a broader range of threats beyond cyber threats. It aims to ensure the organization can adapt to and recover from various disruptions that could impact critical services. | Focuses primarily on cyber threats and their potential impact on information systems, data, and critical operations. |
|
Emphasis |
|
| Emphasizes proactive risk identification, planning, and building a culture of resilience across the organization. It ensures critical services can be delivered despite any disruption. | Emphasizes preventative security measures, incident response planning, and rapid cyberattack recovery. It aims to minimize the impact of cyber threats on critical operations. |
| Relationship | |
|
Cyber resilience is a subset of operational resilience. Building cyber resilience strengthens an organization's overall operational resilience by ensuring it can withstand cyber threats that could disrupt critical services. |
Relies on a solid foundation of operational resilience to ensure swift recovery and continued operations even after a cyberattack. |
|
An analogy to Illustrate the Difference |
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is like building a solid foundation, sturdy walls, and a reliable roof that can withstand various weather conditions (disruptions). |
is like installing additional security systems, fire alarms, and backup generators to protect the house from potential fire hazards (cyberattacks). |
Similarities between Operational Resilience and Cyber Resilience
Despite their scope differences, operational and cyber resilience share several key similarities that contribute to an organization's stability and ability to weather storms. Here are some of the key areas where they overlap.
| Focus on Continuity |
| Both OR and cyber resilience prioritize ensuring the continued delivery of critical business functions. While OR addresses disruptions from any source, cyber resilience specifically focuses on disruptions caused by cyber threats. However, the ultimate goal is to keep the organization functioning and minimize downtime. |
| Proactive Approach |
| Building both operational and cyber resilience requires a proactive approach. This means identifying potential threats (cyber and non-cyber) in advance, implementing preventative measures, and developing contingency plans for various scenarios. |
| Risk Management |
| Both frameworks rely heavily on effective risk management practices. These practices involve assessing potential risks, understanding their likelihood and impact, and implementing mitigation measures. |
| Incident Response |
| Whether the disruption stems from a cyberattack or another event, OR and cyber resilience emphasize the importance of having a well-defined incident response plan. This plan outlines how the organization will identify, contain, and recover from disruptions while minimizing damage. |
| Communication and Collaboration |
| Effective communication and collaboration across all levels of the organization are crucial for both OR and cyber resilience. Sharing information, raising concerns, and working together to address potential weaknesses are essential for building a resilient organization. |
| Learning and Improvement |
| Both frameworks acknowledge that disruptions and attacks will inevitably occur. The emphasis is on learning from these events, improving existing strategies, and continuously adapting to threats and challenges. |
Summing Up ...
Operational resilience provides a broad framework for ensuring organizational survival through various challenges.
Cyber resilience plays a vital role within this framework by explicitly focusing on the ever-present threat of cyberattacks and ensuring the organization can bounce back effectively when they happen. Working together, operational resilience creates a comprehensive approach to building a truly resilient organization.
Supplementary Explanations
More Information About Operational Resilience OR-5000 [BL-OR-5] or OR-300 [BL-OR-3] Course
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