A new report published by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), in association with BSI, has revealed that IT-related threats are continuing to provide the greatest concern for organisations, ranking above other threats such as natural disasters, security incidents and industrial disputes. The annual BCI Horizon Scan shows that three quarters of business leaders fear the possibility of an unplanned IT and telecoms outage.

While this winter's wind and rain has been good news for umbrella and anorak manufacturers, it has not been such good news for hosts of the UK's sporting and leisure events, according to sports insurer Sportscover Europe. If the UK flooding continues into March it becomes increasingly possible that events such as the Cheltenham Festival next month could be cancelled.

As a direct response to the regional flooding, Phoenix has brought forward the launch of Re:Cover, a new service aimed at SMEs. Under its umbrella, businesses benefit from cover for both catastrophic IT failure and loss of office facilities following a disaster such as a fire, flood, local police incident or gas leak. As part of the launch, the provider is also offering one year’s free Re:Cover service for those businesses taking out a disaster recovery service contract.

Comedian Jo Caulfield has been announced as host of this year's Business Continuity Awards gala dinner. Jo follows a long line of world-class stand up comedians to host the industry's main event, including Marcus Brigstocke, Kevin Bridges, Dara O’Briain, Jimmy Carr, Ruby Wax, Rob Brydon and Adam Hills.

UK IT and workarea recovery provider, Phoenix has achieved certification to the new international business continuity standard ISO 22301. Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance certified that Phoenix meets all the requirements of the standard, which applies to all of the Phoenix recovery centres across the UK, including the main administration office in Aston in the West Midlands

The Bank of England has today published the findings of the Waking Shark II exercise, which was organised by the Securities Industry Business Continuity Management Group and drew on extensive cyber expertise to design a scenario in which a cyber attack caused disruption to wholesale markets and the financial infrastructure supporting those markets

With the prospect of rising costs, falling commodity prices and decreased productivity levels, mining companies are embracing cost cutting measures to lay the foundation for long-term business growth, according to Willis. In its annual Mining Risk Review, the broker and risk advisor warned companies not to be tempted to cut back on risk management outlays in order achieve cost reductions.

Business interruption and supply chain risks caused by flooding and extreme weather patterns top the list of concerns among corporate insurance experts for 2014, according to Allianz. The third annual Allianz Risk Barometer, which surveyed over 400 corporate insurance experts from 33 countries, highlights the impact of natural catastrophe the subsequent complexity of business risks, particularly for large corporates with international exposures.

A significant increase in conflict, terrorism and regime instability in MENA (Middle East and North Africa), along with intensifying political violence and resource nationalism in East Africa, are among the key factors driving a global rise in political risks for investors, according to the sixth annual Political Risk Atlas by global risk analytics company Maplecroft.

A major cyber security exercise kicks off today among the UK's major financial services providers. Monitored by the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority, each of the major banks are expected to test their ability to withstand a cyber attack. Cyber attack has become one of the key threats to the banking system, with daily reports of such incidents, and many more going undetected or unreported.

C-level execs need to clearly define accountability and ownership of business continuity services within an organisation or risk placing their business in a very exposed position, states Paul Gant, head of business continuity managed solutions, at Phoenix. Historically the attitude from organisations towards business continuity has been met with a fail and fix mentality, however, events have forced C-level execs to demand action to ensure their business remains safe and operational.

Less than 40% of organisations are testing and updating their plans annually. This is according to research by IT and work area recovery provider, Phoenix, which believes there may be a perception that business continuity management is a complex, costly and time-consuming process to maintain. To address these inhibitors, the provider has developed an end-to-end managed service designed to meet the entire business continuity process from BIA and plan creation to annual rehearsals and plan maintenance.

xMatters has appointed Laura Meadows as head of business continuity solutions, EMEA. In this newly created role, Meadows will be responsible for delivery of xMatters’ business continuity planning, sales, solutions development and marketing strategies in the region.

As severe weather warnings continue across the UK, organisational productivity is likely to suffer as employees struggle to gain access to key business applications beyond email. This is according to global industry analysts at Ovum, who believe that CIOs that embrace the need for mobile enterprise apps and cloud productivity apps will maintain productivity in the face of disaster, such as the arrival in the UK today of a severe storm, dubbed 'St Jude'.

The revised BS ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and BS ISO/IEC 27002:2013 standards have been published. The standards which help businesses manage information security were first conceived at BSI, the business standards company, in the shape of BS 7799. The 2013 revision of the international standard will enable businesses of all sizes and sectors to accommodate the swift evolution and increased complexity of managing information and the continual challenge that cyber security poses.