You work for a U.S.-based company called Hintel, an IT company that manufactures computer chips. The companys factories handle over 70 percent of its manufacturing operations. The factories are geographically located in China, Italy, and South Africa.

In January 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that they were responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first detected in China and which has now been detected in more than 100 locations internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes has been named Coronavirus Disease 2019 (abbreviated COVID-19). On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency on International concern.¹

Since January 30, 2020 when the outbreak was declared a public health emergency, many businesses have suffered major financial losses due to a temporary loss of confidence in financial markets, restricted movements, and in the case of Hintel, the closures of its major factories in China and Italy. The company currently reports approximately $75m in losses per day as a result of this pandemic.

• As the CIO of Hintel, you have been summoned by the organizations board to share your response plans. Identify and explain 3 to 5 risk response options that you would share with the board. Note that these points could essentially be included in your disaster recovery plan.
• Describe 3 to 5 factors that you would consider when evaluating the risk response options that you shared above, bearing in mind the importance of establishing and maintaining trust throughout the process.
• Pandemics such as COVID-19 may enable bad actors in cyberspace to harm businesses. Identify and describe potential opportunities that these actors could exploit to harm businesses.
• Describe technical controls Hintel could implement to reduce cybersecurity-related risks from these bad actors.