Business continuity planning has traditionally focused on preparing for rare events such as hurricanes, floods, and outages. IT teams have typically created detailed playbooks, conducted annual tests, and hoped these measures would remain unused.
However, in recent years, the landscape of threats has shifted significantly. Cyber incidents, especially ransomware attacks, have become more prevalent and potentially more damaging than conventional natural disasters. A survey involving over 500 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) revealed that 72% of respondents reported their organizations had encountered ransomware within the past year. Additionally, early 2025 saw ransomware attacks on enterprises reaching unprecedented levels.
Mark Vaughn, senior director of the virtualization practice at Presidio, has observed these changes firsthand. During conferences, he often poses the question of how many attendees have experienced disaster recovery events. Historically, only a few hands are raised. In contrast, when he inquired about those affected by ransomware last year, approximately two-thirds of attendees indicated they had been impacted.
The significant increase in ransomware incidents raises questions about the adequacy of current business continuity strategies. As organizations face a growing risk of cyber threats, there is an ongoing need to evaluate and potentially revise their disaster recovery and business continuity plans to address new challenges effectively.
This content was developed by Insights, a specialized unit of MIT Technology Review, and was not authored by its editorial staff. The research involved human writers and analysts, with any use of AI confined to secondary processes subject to human review.
Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/11/25/1128173/aligning-vmware-migration-with-business-continuity/