This blog recently reported on the importance of companies of all sizes taking the time to ensure that risk management assessments account for the threat of cyber attacks. With technology becoming more prominent in a multitude of industries, business impact analysis plans need include ways for organizations to prepare their computer systems and ensure employees are properly educated on how to manage online security threats.

Even highly prominent companies can fall prey to hackers or cyber attacks. For example, last week, HSBC was the most recent victim of a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS). In these situations, group of computers send larger than usual volume of traffic data to websites to tie up server resources, according to PC Magazine.

From there, sites are either completely shut down due to the high volume or they are only available sporadically.

Wells Fargo was another bank that suffered a similar attack within the last month, although according to Reuters, it was seemingly able to bounce back faster than other affected institutions.

"I don't want to minimize the potential damage it could cause to the industry," Wells Fargo CFO Tim Sloan told Reuters, "But in terms of how the industry performed and how Wells Fargo performed in reaction to the recent efforts, we actually performed very well."

Sloan added that the company will continue to invest in ways to defend against future DDoS attacks because in this day and age, it's a necessary cost of doing business.

Unexpected threats – whether cyber security issues or natural disasters – need to be accounted for in business continuity plans. When companies take the time and are willing to invest in comprehensive risk management assessments, they will ensure their organization a quicker recovery.