How The Loma Prieta Earthquake Pushed Me Into The Disaster Recovery Business…And Others Out Of Business

A quarter century ago, I got into the disaster recovery business by accident. I was walking through my company’s loading dock and found a huge fireproof safe containing Reel-to-reel backup tapes of all of the software that we developed and sold to our customers, along with our accounting records. Less than a year after I opened my mouth about those tapes sitting on the loading dock, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck and the rest is history.

Don’t Even Think of Outrunning a Tornado

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, and you sure as heck can’t outrun a tornado. Do you have a safe room and have you gotten a kit, made a plan, and are ready to stay informed?

Lessons Learned from Superstorm Sandy

During and after Superstorm Sandy, power and communications were out. Weeks later, power is still out for tens of thousands and some buildings will be uninhabitable for months due to contamination. Cellphone carriers successfully fought the FCC on installing backup power and Netflix reported that viewership doubled on the East Coast. If your organization had a work-from-home disaster recovery plan, did it work?

Why Your iPhone Could Make Your Disaster Worse

My iPhone 4 wanted to be connected to iTunes and was a brick for four days until I could make it to an Apple store. Why carry a phone that can’t even be a phone without being plugged into a computer first?

Crisis Response – Where Security and Disaster Recovery Meet

School and law enforcement officials in dozens of states worked together to develop and publish guidelines for putting together a Crisis Response Box—and every company should have one for first responders to an incident at your organization.

Is Your Toilet Disaster Tolerant?

Your company spent a lot of money on their disaster recovery and business continuity plans. They spent hundreds of hours doing tabletop exercises and full blown deployments to see if everything comes together as it should. But what happens if you need to tinkle?

How Can An SMB In Earthquake Country Be Prepared?

The Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities has concluded the probability of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake over the next 30 years striking the greater Los Angeles area is 67%, and in the San Francisco Bay Area it is 63%. For the entire California region, the fault with the highest probability of generating at least […]