Security Watch | Matt Hines » It's all about the response time

August 29, 2006 | Comments: (0)

It's all about the response time

TAGS: Security

As I make my way back to Silicon Valley late this evening from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, I'm thinking about response times.

Okay, maybe I'm hopped up on a little too many chicken McNuggets and that extra large Diet Coke, but it seems to me that those semi's I keep passing have it out for me. As I pass the garlic capitol of the world I make sure that I'm not overdriving my headlights, which has caused so many problems for other drivers. But I do wonder if I would be ready in time if a discarded muffler appeared from underneath the car in front of me, or if a length of chain (which seems all too common for this stretch of highway) were to make it's way under my tires.

Maybe it's the driving beat courtesy of Paul Oakenfold coming from my MP3 player, but my nerves seem tense and my responses sharp, even for this late hour. I'm thinking about response time and wonder if we can be ready for events that catch us off guard.

One year after Hurricane Katrina I'm thinking about large, or small, catastrophic events that catch us off balance. Whether that event has to do with a power supply on a distribution switch, or water flooding into a data center from a torrential downpour - are we ready? While we can't ever be ready for everything, we can at least mitigate the risk.

What task are you putting off that would exacerbate an already bad situation if it were to happen? Are you putting off or can't find the time for router and switch configuration backups? Sweeping patch management under the rug? Anti-Virus definitions a little too out of date? Having wiring or fluctuating power issues? Are you going around with easily guessable passwords? Or worse yet, a single common password for multiple critical network devices?

What are you putting off right now?

Why don't you take ten minutes today and at least start to deal with the problem or issue that you've been avoiding. If something were to go south, dealing with that issue now could be the difference between only a bad, but manageable, problem versus a catastrophe.

Taking are of that neglected problem now will enhance your response time should something bad happen in the next few hours. Like I said before, it's all about response time.

Or maybe it's just the barbecue dipping sauce talking.

Posted by Victor R. Garza on August 29, 2006 12:02 AM

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