Terrorism - How Internet Businesses Should Plan

May 31, 2007

When I’m working, I like to listen to podcasts and talk radio. Well, talk radio has a lot of current events being discussed, and one of the most current events today is the war on terror. Now this subject very easily gets into the realm of politics, which I have no interest in discussing on this website. However, the fact is that the threat of terrorism is real today and it can affect those of us who make our livings online. I do think some people get way too involved in this stuff and try to scare people with it, however the fact remains that it is a real threat. The thing to do is not to worry about it, but be prepared.

You might ask: What does this have to do with internet business? Well, I see two ways. One is cyberterrorism. While often over-blown, it is something that should be taken into account in your own internet business. The other would be more extreme forms of terrorism including bombings or EMP. Traditional bombings would tend to be more localized and thus the main concern is where your data is located. EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is something that would take out most forms of electronics. EMP, executed properly, could wipe out vast portions of the electrical grid. Our businesses, as webmasters, are heavily dependent on the infrastructure. We make routine use of the internet. The internet is composed of various networks and, essentially, wires which can break for various reasons. Our web servers are powered by electricity and are subject to the principles of electronics. In short, all of us who make our livings online could easily see everything come to a grinding halt if the infrastructure we depend on, namely the electrical grid and the internet, were disrupted.

OK, I am certainly not one to have any interest in scaring anybody. And, quite frankly, I really hope that’s not the case. However, I try to be a realist. While we are busy bettering our lives and those around us as much as possible, the fact remains that there are those few whack-jobs who desire to do this stuff. A few simple thoughts into safeguarding your data could make the difference to your business if, God forbid, one of these scenarios every played out. So, some advice:

Back up your server data in two or more geographical locations. If something happens in the city where your web server is located, your data is safeguarded.
Back up your data onto media that are not dependent on electricity or plugged into the wall. ie tape drives, DVDs, etc.

This comes down to basic data backup rules, but with the added twist of paying attention to geographic location. Redundancy is important. Most good web hosts do back up their servers, but often those backups are all in the same building. We really all should be backing up our servers ourselves routinely instead of depending on our web hosts to do it for us. You can set up some CRON scripts to archive your website automatically on a schedule or perform database backups. If you have some infrastructure to allow automatic remote backup, then that can work for you. Or you could go as simple as setting up some automatic scripts to use your FTP program to download your server backups overnight. But, keep in mind that most CRON scripts to execute a backup are simply going to put the archives on the same network somewhere. So, in many cases, you need to copy those backups to another geographical location.

In our businesses, our data is our gold. You may not have thought about it, but those of us who make our living online are basically making our money off of computer files. Files sitting on a server’s hard drive. And for most of us, the web server we use is not in our direct control. I have never laid eyes on my web server, yet I have made my living based on what I do with that server for the last several years. My server is located up in Pittsburgh. I know Pair Networks has systems in place for backup and to power their data centers in the event of loss of power. But, again, it all makes some assumptions that something catastrophic has not happened to the entire city of Pittsburg.

So, back up your data on your web server and try to make it geographically redundant. The internet is far too large and expansive to be able to be taken out, so don’t worry about that. But, on a smaller geographical basis, there are things that could happen to your particular server. If your data has been secured, you can get things set up on another server in another location and be up and running. If you didn’t secure your data ahead of time, you just lost your whole business.

Well, that’s my cheery post for today. I promise you, most of my posts are not like this one. But, hey, all of this stuff we do - the internet - is all sitting on pieces of equipment in the real world. Sometimes you have to think about this stuff.