
Harbor’s Guide: Harnessing AI with Confidence
22 January 2025STRENGTHENING OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE
*This article was originally featured in the Telegraph on the 22nd January 2025.
As businesses grow and adapt, operational resilience becomes even more essential. In this context, it refers to an organisation’s capacity to sustain critical systems and services during times of crisis. Building this resilience demands a comprehensive understanding of the processes that underpin core business functions, with both people and technology serving as key enablers. In the present world, businesses are not just concerned with routine system failure, they must navigate an ever-evolving threat landscape. This is further complicated by reliance on data for business decisions and the accompanying data growth, which is set to grow at an average of 19.2% CAGR [1]. Businesses also need to contend with the changing landscape of AI-based applications and the impact this will have on data growth, critical business systems & threats, while also managing more traditional cyber security. All this compounds and creates additional pressure on IT teams as they need to do the day job of keeping the business available whilst helping drive key strategic initiatives.
There have been numerous high-profile attacks on critical industries such as finance and businesses that support financial services, as well as organisations involved in critical national infrastructure. This has driven regulatory changes such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which came into effect on the 17th January 2025. Every industry must be cyber-ready and resilient in the event of an attack. Maintaining compliance with DORA and the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) to avoid hefty fines is essential to all businesses. Whilst these are EU initiatives, UK companies who operate within the EU or do business with European companies are still held to account.

Operational resilience is broader than events within the confines of your own business, it is also about your third-party supply chain. Have you considered whether the companies, vendors, and services you depend on can withstand disruptions or a cyber-attack? It’s a critical question, underscored by high-profile incidents like the 2024 CrowdStrike breach and the 2020 SolarWinds supply chain attack. These incidents don’t just affect the revenue and reputation of a company, they have the potential to impact entire nation economies. The former incident is estimated to have cost the UK between £1.7bn to £2.3bn [2]. What is also interesting is that Cyber Insurance payouts are only estimated to cover 10-20% of the losses [3], showing that they can’t be solely relied upon to provide complete financial protection. The world is more interconnected than ever, and this momentum will only increase resulting in further data growth and greater focus on operational resilience and recovery.
Harbor Solutions was founded on the principle of being a trusted provider and business partner for the above reasons. With over 11 years of experience in data protection and managed services, Harbor delivers a fully managed Cyber Recovery Service, offering specialised support during your most critical times of need. When your business faces disruption, and you need to restart or restore services, Harbor is there to help. They are closely aligned with industry-leading data protection provider Rubrik and other cutting-edge providers. Harbor’s leadership team recognised early in the shift in the data protection industry, as new solutions focused specifically on cyber recovery emerged, which were built from the ground up with this in mind. Harbor works with leading brands across multiple sectors including highly regulated industries such as finance, insurance, legal and critical national infrastructure providers. They often begin by starting a discovery and assessment of their existing security and recovery position by pinpointing critical data and systems essential for operation. They then design & build the solution to the unique organisational needs. Harbor, implement and manage this 24x7x365, backed by SLA’s, with regular service reviews to test recovery, proactively respond to threats and recommend improvements through the service lifetime.
References
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/
[2] https://www.kovrr.com/reports/the-uk-cost-of-the-crowdstrike-incident
[3] https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/crowdstrike-cost-fortune-500-losses-cyber-insurance/722396/