Problems - IT Disasters ...
      and Lessons from History

It has been said that those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it. We can learn important lessons
from previous IT disasters, and apply those lessons
to your system.

Every day - Spam keeps coming nonstop filling up your in basket and wasting your time deleting unwanted advertising to find the few legitimate e-mails that require your attention.
Lesson: You can't win every battle. Install spam blockers, but watch for undelivered e-mails.

4/01/04 - Sasser worm randomly attacks PCs with an Internet connection and makes PCs run slow and send copies to other PCs. This worm attacked a vulnerability in the Windows XP OS known and patchable for over two weeks — having the firewall option "on". 
Lesson: Opps ... forgot a previous lesson ... to update regularly with software patches ... and turn on the "Firewall" option for your Internet connection. 

8/14/03 - East Coast power blackout  disables electronic sinks and toilets. Numerous electronic toilets wouldn't flush and sinks wouldn't drain during the blackout, causing a health hazard.
Lesson: Make sure important life support systems including electronic bathrooms are hooked up to standby backup power, such as a generator in the basement. 

8/11/03 - Blaster worm, also called a LovScam, causes PC error warnings, shut down, and then restart again to search out other PCs to infect.  Cripples hundreds of thousands of computers running the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP operating systems.  These users did not heed warnings to get a free downloadable fix to patch a flaw available since July 17, 2003.
Lesson: Everyone needs to keep current by updating and patching their PC operating system.

5/10/03 - Fizzer worm spreads via Kazaa peer-to-peer program file sharing of music (MP3 files).
Lesson: P2P networks should not be trusted unless you want to risk a worm and/or copyright violations.

1/25/03 - Slammer worm  shuts down numerous large company networks including the American Express website and BofA ATMs by attacking known application flaws in a popular Microsoft SQL server application.
Lesson: Enterprises need to keep current by patching known bugs in software. (But test patches first to make sure the updates don't conflict with other software or programs.)

3/22/02 - Northpoint Communication goes bankrupt and cause disruption in Internet service to thousands of customers.
Lesson: Have a backup ISP under contract for quick switchover of Internet service.

9/11/01 - Terrorists take down the World Trade Center Twin Towers and disable redundant phone systems within blocks of the site.
Lesson: The unthinkable can happen. Be prepared ...  have redundant phone carriers with trunk connections outside your area ... use cell phone text messaging which has more chance of going through ... also have walkie-talkie like products as backup.  

1/17/94 - The Northridge quake knocks down computers and destroys data. The jolt turns computer rooms into a pile of twisted wires and CPUs cases with trashed hard drives.
Lesson: Backups stored offsite can save your business.