HC Deb 12 March 2001 vol 364 cc454-5W
Mr. Fabricant

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list those commercial companies he has been in contact with in the last 24 months regarding computer disaster contingency programmes. [152548]

Ms Hewitt

Over the past two years, officials from my Department have been in contact with a number of organisations to discuss security of information and ways of ensuring that the information is available after a disaster. The need for such contingency planning has been highlighted by the "I love you" bug and other computer viruses which have affected the operations of many companies around the world.

My Department encourages all organisations to implement ISO/IEC 17799/BS7799, the code of practice for information security management standard. This standard promotes the use of risk assessment and putting appropriate security controls in place before embarking on decisions which would involve losses or damage of an organisation. This includes business continuity management and information security education and training.