Every year, the Atlantic hurricane season brings with it not only dangerous weather but also a major business risk: operational downtime, data loss, and long-term reputational damage. While physical preparedness—boarding up windows, securing supplies, and ensuring safety—is second nature to many, far too many businesses fail to protect their most valuable digital asset: data.
In an increasingly digital world, your business continuity depends just as much on protecting your servers, backups, and communications as it does on securing your physical infrastructure. With hurricane season approaching, reviewing your disaster preparedness from a cybersecurity and IT resilience standpoint is time.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to protecting your business before the next storm hits.
You're already at risk if you don’t have a formal Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Plan. These aren’t just documents—they’re your company’s survival playbooks.
A solid BCP/DR plan should include:
A communications protocol (internal and external)
Critical data backup and restoration processes
Defined Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)
Contact lists for key personnel and vendors
Remote work and emergency access procedures
Predefined failover to cloud or secondary infrastructure
Don’t just check that you have a plan—test it. Simulate hurricane-related scenarios, such as power loss or ISP failure, to see how fast your team can recover operations.
You're not safe if your backups are stored in the exact physical location as your primary data center—or even in the same region. Hurricanes can wipe out entire facilities, including servers, storage, and local tapes.
What to do:
Use geographically dispersed cloud backup solutions
Automate daily or hourly incremental backups for critical data
Confirm your backup restoration process works, not just that the backups exist
Encrypt data in transit and at rest
viLogics recommends a 3-2-1 approach:
3 copies of your data
2 different types of storage
1 copy stored offsite or in the cloud
Downtime isn’t just about damage—it’s about interruption. Power, followed by internet access, is one of the first things to fail during a hurricane.
What you need in place:
Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) for servers and key hardware
Backup generators are tested and serviced regularly
Redundant internet connections from different carriers ***(StarLink)
A mobile hotspot plan for emergency communications
Surge protectors and environmental monitors in your server rooms
If you rely on on-prem systems, consider hybrid cloud or full cloud migration before the season starts.
Hurricanes force evacuations and closures. Your staff may be unable to reach your offices, but that doesn’t mean business should stop.
Set up:
VPN access to all critical systems
Role-based permissions and multi-factor authentication (MFA)
A cloud-based VoIP phone system for remote call forwarding
Secure remote desktop access or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
Bonus: Remote readiness also protects your business from cyberattacks, pandemics, and other disruptions.
Criminals love chaos. Phishing attacks, social engineering, and ransomware campaigns often spike during natural disasters. They know your defenses may be down—and your employees distracted.
Stay protected with:
Next-gen Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)
Security Awareness Training (especially around storm-season phishing lures)
A 24/7 Managed SOC to monitor threats in real-time
Immutable backup solutions that protect data from ransomware encryption
Consider deploying a Zero Trust model to limit lateral movement in case of a breach.
Most SMBs and mid-sized enterprises don’t have full-time cybersecurity strategists or compliance officers. That’s where working with a Virtual CISO (vCISO) or Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) comes in.
A vCISO can:
Audit your current hurricane-readiness posture
Align your DR/BCP to NIST, CIS v8, or CMMC frameworks
Ensure insurance coverage requirements are met (many now mandate cybersecurity best practices)
Create tabletop exercises and simulate storm-related scenarios
At viLogics, we’ve helped hundreds of companies in hurricane-prone areas build business resilience from the inside out.
Many policies don’t cover data loss due to natural disasters—unless certain precautions are in place. Some insurers even exclude coverage if the proper cybersecurity framework (like CIS 8.0) isn’t followed.
Before the next storm, check:
Is your business pre-qualified for a claim?
Do you have a validated BCP and cyber risk assessment?
Does your insurance cover data recovery, ransomware, and business interruption?
If not, it’s time to find a provider (like viLogics) that includes built-in cyber insurance with platform deployment.
We sometimes forget that paper still matters in the digital world, especially when networks are down.
Print and store:
Key vendor contacts
System recovery instructions
Facility access codes
BCP summary steps
Emergency employee directories
Store them off-site, in waterproof containers, and in your "Break Glass" emergency binder.
A pre-configured USB toolkit with critical tools and documentation can be a lifesaver.
It should include:
Emergency recovery scripts
Offline malware scanners
Network diagnostic tools
Secure password manager
Configuration backups for firewalls, switches, and routers
A copy of your DR/BCP plan
viLogics offers clients a Break Glass Emergency USB as part of our Total Secure Office solution because every second counts when disaster strikes.
You can’t stop the next storm, but you can protect your business from becoming the next victim. Today's steps will determine whether you bounce back fast or face weeks of disruption, lost data, and costly recovery.
If you’re unsure where to start, viLogics can help you:
✅ Audit your disaster preparedness
✅ Align with CIS v8.0 controls
✅ Automate your cloud backups
✅ Pre-qualify you for cyber insurance
✅ Deploy our Total Secure Office (TSO) protection
Let’s prepare smarter, not later.
Want to review a Hurricane Cyber Risk Readiness Checklist?