On the IT security side, organizations need to be thinking about how to stay on top of things like log monitoring and patch management in the event of sickness among the IT security staff.
The goal of this column isn't to spread fear over swine flu. In fact, this column is all about shooting down the fear factor. It's far from certain that we're in for a deadly 1918-style pandemic. I personally doubt we'll see the kind of death that ravaged the globe back then. There have been many advances in hygiene and healthcare since then.
But security professionals should always be planning for things that probably won't happen. Before 9-11, a lot of people doubted terrorists would turn commercial aircraft into weapons to take down tall buildings. Before Hurricane Katrina, a lot of people never imagined that most of New Orleans would be submerged the way it ultimately was.
Those who are planning for the unthinkable now may well save a lot of lives later.
Bill Brenner is Senior Editor of CSOonline and CSO Magazine. E-mail your views to him at bbrenner@cxo.com.