This blog has previously written about the importance of a current disaster recovery plan for businesses and organizations of all sizes. Small and medium-sized companies can have more difficulty recovering from a data breach, whereas larger firms run the risk of thinking themselves exempt from the possibility.

However, as technology continues to evolve, so do cyber criminals' methods of breaking into computer systems. The United States' Pentagon recently had a computer server failure last week, which resulted in a large set of documents being lost. According to an article in the Navy Times, the files belonged to military tribunal defense lawyers who were preparing for a case at Guantanamo Bay.

Richard Kammen, one of several defense lawyers, told the news source that the court needs to establish the extent of any breach of the attorney-client privilege.

"We want to put the case on hold number one to find the scope of the intrusions," he said. "Was this the product of negligence or something worse? Also, we need to have the problem fixed."

Kammen added that he was unsure when the breach occurred, but that thousands of pages of documents were involved. While some of them have since been recovered, the lawyer said that he needs time to determine if any information is missing.

Not only is it critical for companies to have proper security measures in place – to hopefully prevent the possibility of cyber threats – but all employees must be trained properly. Even something as simple as carrying a work-designated laptop between the home and office could be problematic. However, without a thorough understanding of a company's business continuity planning, how will employees know the proper protocol?  

When organizations partner with consulting firms that specialize in data breaches and disaster recovery planning, they can rest assured that a comprehensive prevention and recovery plan can be created.