How to prepare for wide-scale infrastructure failure

We all fear the nightmare scenario: a complete disaster in middle of the weekend, and the entire system is down. Where do you start? How would you even know where to start? This is where your infrastructure documentation, threat modelling, and risk assessment comes in.

Infrastructure documentation is something we all need, but absolutely despise. It is also something that you cannot and should not delegate to a third-party or you risk having gaps that you might be aware of until it is too late. The documentation should cover all systems, pertinent details for each, and whether they are a dependency of another service.

Threat modelling is a relatively new activity, where you take each individual system and look at how an external event could affect its operation. Malware, Ransomware, and hackers are good examples. Any public facing service is at risk. It could be a web application that could be hacked, a website that gets defaced, or an email that encrypts your computer. Involve others in this exercise so that you can cover all areas and different points of view.

Lastly, we have the risk assessment. Every IT department needs to have an up-to-date risk assessment. You can present it to management and use it to identify how they align with business needs, establish priority, and then get budgetary allocation.

With these three in place, you can mitigate risks and threats. You will also know what you need to do when something goes down and how to go about getting it back up. Most importantly, you can tell management where you are, what you are doing, and when they can expect to have everything back up and running.

No matter which option you choose, be sure to find a reliable web host that can make sure you have as much uptime as you need to make an impression on all potential customers. If you’re looking for a Los Angeles web hosting provider, be sure to visit Electric Kitten, a trusted web hosting company that has served Southern California for almost two decades.