Preparing for the big one means you’re ready for all the little ones, too.
I live in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It’s considered part of the Ring of Fire that extends around the edge of the Pacific Ocean from the west coast of South America up through Alaska and then down along the eastern coast of Asia. It’s called the Ring of Fire because it contains an above-average number of volcanos.
I’m not terribly concerned about volcanos, but the Ring is also known for earthquakes. And we’re overdue for “the big one”, as many call it.
Even if you’re not at risk of a huge earthquake, plenty of other disasters could wreak havoc with your online life. Let’s talk about your online presence and data.
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Preparing for disaster
Disasters happen. Being ready means backing up your data, protecting your power, having backup internet, and making sure you can access your online accounts. Think ahead now so you’re not stuck later. By being ready for the worst, you’re ready for the smaller disasters and inconveniences that are more likely.
Your big one
I prepare for earthquakes — specifically the big ones, meaning 7 or greater on the Richter scale, which can result in major infrastructure damage.
Your big one might be different; it could be tornados, hurricanes1, wildfires, or some other natural disaster. It could be non-natural disasters like terrorist attacks, invasions, pandemics, or governmental overthrows.
It could be something as simple as your house burning to the ground. Of all the risks, that might be the most likely for all of us.
It doesn’t matter what you prepare for as long as you prepare.
The little ones
When I talk to people about emergency management in general2, I point out that preparing for the big one might seem like overkill, but it also means that you’re prepared for all the “little ones” that are much more likely to occur, like:
- Local storms that knock out power and connectivity for “a while”
- Property damage from natural events that hit your house hard
- Burglary and theft
- Unanticipated equipment damage or failure
- Just about anything else that can go wrong
By planning for the worst, you automatically have plans for the inconvenient.
Plans? What plans?
So, if you were to prepare for the big one, what would that look like? Let’s look at backing up, protecting your power source, and online access.
Back up
You knew this would be first on my list. Equipment can be replaced, but data is often precious and irreplaceable.
More than that, though, it’s important to adopt the 3-2-1 rule of backing up:
- Three copies of your data.
- Two different kinds of media.
- One of which is stored off-site.
Cloud storage services like Dropbox and OneDrive make it easy to achieve those last two in one stroke.
Make sure you’re taking backups of everything (I prefer image backups) on a regular automated schedule. If it’s not automated, you’re relying on your memory, and that’s a recipe for forgetting to do it at exactly the wrong time.
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Power protection
This comes in two flavors: short and long-term.
For short-term interruptions — say under 30 minutes — a good Uninterrupted Power Source will do. Even more than protecting from outages, a UPS safeguards your devices from damage should the power fluctuate, spike, or become intermittent.
For longer-term power outages, things are a little less clear. We have a generator, for example, that we recently ran for three days during a storm-related power outage. It wasn’t for my tech; it was primarily for our fridge and freezer. In a convenient side effect, it kept select computers running and phones charged.
Whether a UPS or generator is appropriate for you depends on your own situation, risk assessment, and, of course, budget. Not everyone needs a generator, for example.
But everyone should at least have a plan.
Backup internet
It’s not uncommon for the internet to go down during storms and other weather-related events. When our cable internet went belly up during that three-day storm, it was my mobile plan to the rescue. The speeds were nowhere near the same, particularly as everyone else around us did essentially the same thing, but it worked. It allowed us to check and provide status updates and remain knowledgeable about what was happening around us.
Your mobile plan may be enough to replace your home internet, but it may not. Beware of things like data caps and speed limitations that kick in after a certain amount of usage. If you switch to your mobile connection as your primary, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll chew through your allocation quickly.
There’s a more serious scenario that’s worth considering. It’s not uncommon for mobile networks to fail completely during major events. In my neck of the woods, the expectation is that it won’t survive the big one, and we’ve certainly heard stories from hurricane-affected areas as well. I don’t have a blanket recommendation, as it once again depends on your situation. Solutions could range from being prepared with satellite internet to becoming a ham radio operator3.
Online access
One of the often-overlooked aspects of disaster planning is online account access.
Consider this: as part of a disaster, you lose access to your mobile device, computer, and/or the notepad you write your passwords in. When you get or borrow a replacement device, you try to sign on and…
Nothing. Access denied. You’re signing in from a new device and you don’t have your second factor or even your passwords in order to access your primary or alternate/recovery accounts.
My favorite way to prepare is:
- Use a password vault.
- Never forget your password vault’s master password.
- If that vault has additional requirements for a first-time sign-in, like two-factor authentication, make sure those are covered somehow.
Depending on the nature of the requirements, that first-time sign-in could require jumping through a few hoops. Make sure you know what those hoops are in advance. That way you can prepare. Sometimes it means having access to an alternate account. Sometimes it means having backup codes available. Sometimes it means something else. What’s important is that you know what those are and have a plan.
For example, I have enough recovery information to get my 1Password vault open hidden behind encryption and obscure online access. After that, all my accounts will be available to me. In addition, I have specific people I could reach out to who live out of the area and have designated emergency access to that vault as well.
Do this
No one likes the concept of disaster planning. It means having to think about disasters! However, it can make all the difference when it comes to how much hassle you might have to deal with should the big one — whatever that means for you — happen. And it’ll make all those little ones much easier to deal with.
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Footnotes & References
1: I find it funny: people who live in earthquake prone areas are often terrified of tornados, and those in “tornado alley” find the concept of earthquakes absolutely horrible. 
2: A not infrequent topic among ham radio operators.
3: It’s not an internet replacement, but at least you’ll be able to reach out and talk to others in an emergency.
