A major climate shift may be on the horizon. According to AccuWeather, conditions are aligning for a potential El Niño to develop in 2026—bringing with it widespread and often unpredictable impacts across the United States.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is part of a larger climate pattern driven by warming ocean temperatures in the Pacific. As those temperatures rise, they disrupt global weather systems—shifting storm tracks, altering precipitation patterns, and increasing volatility across regions.
What Could El Niño Mean for the U.S.?
If El Niño develops, businesses should prepare for less predictable and more uneven weather impacts, including:
- Shifts in storm patterns and severity
- Potential suppression of Atlantic hurricanes—but not elimination of risk
- Increased rainfall and flooding in some regions
- Drought and prolonged heat in others
- Peak impacts building into late 2026 and early 2027
The key takeaway: this is not a “one-risk” scenario—it’s a volatility scenario.
What El Niño Means for Business Continuity
El Niño challenges a common assumption in resilience planning: that risk follows predictable seasonal patterns. Instead, organizations may face simultaneous or unexpected disruptions—from flooding and power outages to supply chain delays and workforce displacement.
Resilient businesses don’t try to predict every outcome—they prepare across core operational dependencies:
How to Prepare for El Niño: 5 Pillars of Resilience
1. Power: Plan for Outages—Not Possibilities
Severe storms, grid strain, and extreme heat all increase the likelihood of outages.
Recommendations:
- Secure backup power solutions (generators, fuel supply)
- Test failover capabilities before peak storm season
- Identify critical systems that must remain operational
2. Connectivity: Stay Online When Infrastructure Fails
Connectivity disruptions—whether from fiber cuts, network outages, or infrastructure damage—can halt operations instantly.
Recommendations:
- Establish redundant connectivity (LTE, satellite, or secondary providers)
- Ensure remote access to critical systems and data
- Validate network failover through regular testing
3. Communications: Control the Narrative Before and After the Storm
Clear, timely communication is essential to maintaining trust and reducing confusion.
Pre-event:
- Define communication protocols and escalation paths
- Segment audiences (employees, customers, stakeholders)
- Pre-draft messages for likely scenarios
Post-event:
- Provide real-time updates on operational status
- Share recovery timelines and next steps
- Maintain consistent messaging across all channels
Tools matter: Platforms like MyAgility enable organizations to send targeted email and SMS alerts to specific groups—ensuring the right people get the right information at the right time.
4. Workspace: Ensure Operations Continue—Anywhere
Flooding, storm damage, or unsafe conditions can make primary facilities unusable.
Recommendations:
- Pre-arrange alternate workspace solutions (mobile offices, recovery centers)
- Enable remote work capabilities with secure access
- Identify critical roles that require physical space vs. remote flexibility
5. People: Turn Plans into Action Through Practice
Even the best plan fails if teams don’t know how to execute it.
Recommendations:
- Conduct regular tabletop exercises (2–4 times per year)
- Simulate a range of scenarios—not just one type of disruption
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, and chain of command
- Identify gaps in decision-making, communication, and response time
Tabletop exercises ensure your team doesn’t just have a plan—they can execute it under pressure.
Resilience is the Advantage
El Niño is a powerful reminder that disruption doesn’t follow a script. As climate patterns shift, so do the risks businesses face.
The organizations that come out ahead won’t be the ones who guessed right—they’ll be the ones who prepared across every critical dependency: power, connectivity, communications, workspace, and people.
Because when volatility increases, resilience becomes a competitive advantage.
How Much Would Downtime Really Cost Your Business?
Power outages, severe weather, cyber incidents, and supply chain disruptions are becoming more frequent — and more costly. Yet many organizations still rely on assumptions like:
- “We could manage a few days offline.”
- “We’ll call vendors if something happens.”
- “Our generator should be enough.”
This toolkit helps you move beyond assumptions by quantifying the real financial, operational, and reputational costs of downtime — so you can make informed preparedness decisions before an interruption occurs.
What You’ll Learn
By completing this toolkit, you will be able to:
- Calculate the direct and indirect costs of downtime specific to your organization
- Identify where interruption risk is underestimated
- Understand how recovery speed and resource availability affect total loss
- Evaluate common gaps in power, fuel, and recovery planning
- Build a clearer business case for proactive resilience planning
What’s Included in the Toolkit
This downloadable PDF includes:
- ✔ Step-by-step downtime cost worksheets
- ✔ Revenue, labor, operational, and indirect loss calculators
- ✔ A recovery speed and resource availability reality check
- ✔ Generator ownership vs. backup coverage considerations
- ✔ An interruption risk maturity self-assessment
- ✔ Key insights applicable across industries
No spreadsheets. No jargon. Just practical guidance you can apply immediately.
A cyber breach can turn into a full-blown business disruption fast—and knowing what to do next can make all the difference. Responding to a Cyber Breach is a practical, plain-English guide designed to help organizations take control in the critical moments after an incident. It walks you through exactly how to contain the damage, communicate effectively, and restore operations without adding confusion or delay.
When you download the guide, you’ll learn how to:
- Secure your operations immediately by identifying affected systems and containing the breach before damage spreads
- Close security gaps fast by fixing vulnerabilities, validating backups, and documenting actions for legal or regulatory needs
- Notify the right people at the right time, including internal teams, customers, regulators, and law enforcement
- Restore systems and data safely using secure backup and recovery strategies that reduce downtime
- Turn the incident into a learning opportunity by strengthening response plans, training teams, and improving long-term resilience
Whether you’re preparing for a potential incident or responding to an active breach, this guide gives you a clear, step-by-step roadmap to protect your business, your customers, and your reputation.
Ransomware attacks can halt operations, expose sensitive data, and create regulatory risk across any industry. This checklist delivers clear, actionable steps to help you prepare, detect threats early, and respond with confidence. Built for IT, risk, compliance, and operations teams, it supports faster decisions, stronger recovery, and business continuity when it matters most. Download now and be ready before an attack hits.
When a ransomware attack is actively unfolding, every decision matters—and every minute counts. Systems may already be encrypted, sensitive data at risk of exfiltration, and business operations grinding to a halt, leaving leadership teams under intense pressure to act quickly and correctly. In these moments, organizations that follow a disciplined, proven response approach are far better positioned to contain damage, protect evidence, and accelerate recovery. Drawing from real-world incident response guidance, this article outlines ten critical actions businesses should take during an active ransomware attack to stabilize the situation, avoid costly missteps, and set the foundation for effective remediation and recovery.
1. Don’t Panic
To call an attack stressful is a major understatement but it’s also no time to panic. Do your best to remain calm and rely on your preparations and team to proceed quickly and efficiently.
2. Let Your Incident Response Plan Be Your Guide
This plan is home to the critical information you and your IT team will need when you experience a security incident. Be sure that this plan is updated frequently and tested at least annually to be sure you don’t encounter any costly barriers to action. While this plan is certainly stored online, it’s wise to also have it printed out on paper so it’s accessible when your network is down or inaccessible.
3. Open Communication with Trusted Advisors
If you have a response and recovery partner like Agility, that should be your first call so that team can begin triage right away. Follow-up calls should include insurance brokers, your insurance claims team, legal counsel, etc.
4. Isolate Backups
Be sure your backups are offline or physically offsite to isolate and prevent attackers’ access.
5. Disconnect Servers and Devices from Your Network
When an attacker is stealing data from your network in real-time, cutting off the internet and disconnecting devices from each other halts the hacker’s efforts.
Cyber Breach Response & Recovery with Agility
6. Do Not Engage the Threat Actor
Attempting to decrypt ransomed data or negotiate with the threat actor on your own could result in costly mistakes and a greater ransom. Instead, contact response and recovery experts like Agility Recovery. Skilled negotiations can reduce your ransom payment by as much as 64%. Even better, up to 70% of businesses who utilize professional negotiation services report a zero-payout resolution to their incident.
Be Ready for a Ransomware Attack
7. Document What Your Can with Screenshots, Photos, Etc.
Things to document include ransom notes/file extensions, reviewed logs, and software conveying the state of the environment.
8. Preserve Evidence
- Do not turn off devices
- Do not attempt to wipe, re-image, or restore from backup without consultation
- Failure to preserve evidence will prevent the ability to conduct a complete investigation
9. Change Your Passwords
This includes:
- Administrator accounts and all cloud accounts
- VPN/Remote connectivity software
- Firewall
10. Identify Where Sensitive Information is Stored
Know the host name of this device, review your backups for this information. Consult with your legal team before you inform employees, clients, etc., of the attack.
In today’s unpredictable world, business resilience is no longer optional—it’s essential. That’s why FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha) partnered with Agility to ensure their teams could operate without disruption, no matter the crisis.
During our recent interview, FNBO leaders shared their journey, the challenges they faced, and the measurable impact of building a strong business continuity plan.
The Challenge
FNBO operates across multiple regions, supporting thousands of customers who expect uninterrupted access to financial services. That responsibility brought a pressing need: keep operations running no matter what. Meeting strict regulatory standards, maintaining communication during crises, and giving leadership confidence in recovery were all critical priorities. Simply put, “good enough” wasn’t good enough—continuity had to be proven, tested, and guaranteed.
Agility in Action
That’s where Agility came in. By partnering with Agility, FNBO gained more than a plan—they gained a partner prepared to deliver resilience on demand. Agility provided guaranteed access to backup power and fuel supply, ensuring systems could stay online during outages. Flexible workspace recovery meant employees could continue working, whether through mobile units or one of more than 3,200 global office locations. Crisis communication tools gave FNBO the ability to deliver messages quickly, track accountability, and connect with staff when it mattered most. At the same time, IT resilience, cybersecurity protections, and validated recovery plans meant regulatory audits were no longer a source of worry but of confidence.
The Results
The impact was undeniable. FNBO achieved operational recovery in hours instead of days, expanded preparedness coverage by 177%, and improved response efficiency by nearly 50% during real-world incidents. Every one of these gains translated into tangible business value: uninterrupted service for customers, renewed trust from regulators, and a stronger sense of confidence across the organization.
The Conclusion
FNBO’s story underscores a powerful truth: continuity is not just a safeguard—it’s a strategy for growth, trust, and resilience. By turning risk into readiness, they’ve proven that disruptions don’t have to mean downtime. With Agility by their side, FNBO has transformed uncertainty into a source of strength, ensuring that no matter what the future brings, they are ready to face it.
Our Ransomware Impact Analysis (RIA) Guide for Credit Unions walks you step by step through evaluating your readiness to withstand and recover from a cyberattack. You’ll learn how an RIA helps credit unions:
- Identify your weakest points before cybercriminals do
- Quantify the impact an attack could have on operations, finances, and compliance
- Strengthen your recovery plan with proven strategies used by top-performing credit unions
This isn’t just theory—it’s a practical, actionable playbook tailored to the unique needs and regulations of the credit union industry. Download the guide today and take the first step toward making ransomware a manageable threat—not a business-ending event.
Watch the Agility team in action as we stress-test our own cyber response plan. Cyber threats don’t wait for the perfect moment—and neither should your preparation. In this behind-the-scenes video, go inside a real cybersecurity tabletop exercise conducted by the Agility Recovery team. You’ll see how Agility leaders, IT experts, and operations professionals came together to respond to a simulated cyberattack—testing communication protocols, identifying decision points, and validating our recovery playbooks.
From natural disasters to cyber threats, disruptions can strike any business at any time. In this on-demand video, see how organizations can prepare, test, and recover with confidence using Agility’s purpose-built solutions. Learn how a proactive approach to business continuity planning, including real-world recovery testing and expert support, can help safeguard operations and reduce downtime.
Testing your business continuity and disaster recovery plans is essential to staying prepared. In this on-demand video, explore how tabletop exercises simulate real-world incidents so your team can respond with clarity and confidence.
Watch our VP of Operations, Emily Gaul, as she explains why organizations across all industries need tabletop exercises to identify gaps in existing plans before real disasters strike. Learn which business interruptions to prepare for, who should participate in your exercise, how often businesses should engage in tabletop exercises, and how to structure these critical exercises for maximum effectiveness. Discover how proper documentation during your session creates actionable insights that strengthen your organization’s resilience against unexpected disruptions.
When a business interruption strikes — whether from a cyberattack, power outage, or severe weather event — how prepared is your team to respond? One of the most effective ways to find out is by conducting a tabletop test exercise.
But not all tabletop tests are created equal.
Organizations typically choose between standard and advanced tabletop tests. While both help teams prepare for critical incidents, each offers a different level of complexity, depth, and organizational engagement. Understanding the difference is key to selecting the right approach for your team.
What Is a Tabletop Test?
A tabletop test is a facilitated, discussion-based exercise where team members walk through their emergency response plans in a simulated scenario. The goal is to identify gaps, clarify roles, and ensure that critical functions can be executed under stress — before a real-world event forces your hand.
- Speed: Automated tools can scan an entire network within minutes, detecting common vulnerabilities like misconfigurations or outdated software.
- Continuous Monitoring: Healthcare systems require constant vigilance. Automated testing can run regularly to provide real-time insights into new vulnerabilities as they emerge.
- Scalability: For large healthcare facilities with expansive IT infrastructures, automated testing efficiently assesses a wide range of systems and devices.
However, automated tools can sometimes miss nuanced or context-specific vulnerabilities. While they provide a strong baseline for ongoing monitoring, they may lack the human insight needed to identify sophisticated or emerging threats.
Guided Penetration Testing: Detailed & Strategic
Guided simulation penetration testing (also referred to as manual PTaaS) is conducted by cybersecurity experts who simulate real-world attack scenarios to uncover vulnerabilities that automated tools might miss. This approach excels in areas where:
- Human Expertise is Critical: Guided testing identifies complex vulnerabilities, such as logic flaws in custom applications or specific risks in medical devices.
- Targeted Analysis is Needed: For high-priority systems, such as electronic health records (EHRs) or connected medical devices, manual testing provides in-depth scrutiny.
- Compliance is Complex: Many healthcare facilities require detailed reporting to meet standards like HITRUST or HIPAA. Manual testers can tailor their evaluations to align with these frameworks.
The downside? Guided simulation penetration PTaaS is time-intensive and often more expensive. It’s not practical to use exclusively, especially in fast-paced environments like healthcare.
Striking the Right Balance: A Hybrid Approach
For healthcare facilities, a combination of continuous and guided simulation penetration testing is often the best solution. Continuous testing ensures automated, “always-on” coverage, quickly identifying common vulnerabilities across large networks. Guided simulation testing complements this by providing a deeper, manual, and more nuanced evaluation of high-risk areas.
Here’s how healthcare facilities can integrate both approaches:
- Use automated testing to conduct regular scans of your entire IT environment.
- Deploy manual testing periodically for critical systems, such as EHR platforms or medical devices, where the stakes are highest.
- Leverage automated reporting to prioritize vulnerabilities and direct manual testers to areas of greatest concern.
This hybrid approach ensures that healthcare facilities stay ahead of evolving threats while maintaining compliance and protecting patient data.
Take Action Today
Cybersecurity in healthcare is non-negotiable. With the right balance of continuous and guided simulation penetration testing, you can protect your systems, secure patient data, and reduce the risk of cyberattacks. Contact Agility Recovery to learn how our Cyber Resilience and Threat Detection solutions can help safeguard your healthcare facility.