Planning for the unexpected

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ON SECURITY By Susan Bradley We all have a tendency to take many things for granted. We take utilities, such as electricity and water, for granted. We
[See the full post at: Planning for the unexpected]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Perq, dataman1701, fisher75, Lars220, Michael432, Myst, windbg, Cybertooth, jburk07, SueW, rbailin, cesmart4122, lmacri

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Susan,

Thanks for your article on backing up vital information and services. I have a question:

In the recent LA area fires, did any banks go up in flames? And if so, were the contents of safety deposit boxes safe or were they destroyed too? I’ve heard that the term “safety” may  not necessarily be accurate.

 

wlee

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https://www.americanbanker.com/news/california-bank-customers-await-word-on-safe-deposit-boxes
Let me see if I can find out the details

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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POTS is essential in areas where there is a constant threat of lost electrical power.  In over 40 years here, our old-style phone with copper wire has never failed, despite the substandard electrical service from National Grid.

POTS is really good because it supplies the electrical power needed to be able to use a touch-tone phone that does not require its own electrical power.  We have two older touch-tone phones here, one on my desk with battery-operated caller ID in the phone circuit, and the other near a phone outlet in the kitchen.  My computer is connected to the same phone line, too, and I use it to send faxes to laggard medical and legal practitioners who eschew even encrypted email.

Very useful is POTS, yet AT&T on the left coast and Verizon in our area want to rip up all the copper without offering a suitably reliable alternative.

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Lars220, Myst, gwt10, SueW, cesmart4122

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What is POTS?

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Plain Old Telephone Service.

--Joe

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POTS still works during power outages because FCC regulations require that phone service providers maintain a 48 hr battery backup capability in the main CO (Central Office) for local customers.

And here’s what a typical one looks like.

As of Feb. 13, 2019, the FCC now requires non-POTS providers offer “residential” subscribers at least one option to buy 24 hr backup power for their phone service (cost to be determined by the provider).

My Uncle gets his internet & phone service thru Spectrum and they installed a separate cable modem just for the phone service that includes a rechargeable lithium battery (note: there was no extra fee for the battery backup.)

IMHO, the best solution is to simply have a cell phone available and keep it charged JIC.

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I too retain my copper-based landline. I live in an area with annual hurricanes of varying strengths (depending on the distance from the eye) and lots of trees. It is not unusual for the power to go out for extended periods, and even the cell towers as well. Plug in a POTS (older touch-tone phones here too), powered from the substation, and I can communicate with my not-local kids.
Back when most computers had built in dial-up modems, I was even able to use the Internet when others were out. (Do you remember how slow the connections were??? )

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Lars220, Myst, Cybertooth, Still Anonymous

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Oh yeah, I sure do remember slow as she goes Dial Up. Would fire up the PC, go wash the car, visit the neighbor, come home to cook dinner. And maybe, just maybe I got the connection. Once connected, it took awhile for one lousy email to pop in. Forget about downloads! On the other hand, having that copper wire landline is definitely a safety feature for communicating with the outside world during outages or disasters. Still have the landline, and a princess touch tone phone, but AT&T wants to rip the copper out. We’re in wildfire terrain, the plan is as Susan mentioned, grab the iPhone and haul butt.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Lars220, Cybertooth

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I have landline telephone service from my internet provider (Spectrum) and the telephone cord plugs into the modem and not a regular phone jack.  When the power goes out, so does the modem and phone service.  You’ve just reminded me, though, of when we used to maintain phone service assuming BellSouth was still up and running.

iPhone 13, 2019 iMac(SSD)

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Susan, thanks for the article on planning for the unexpected. I’m going to get more surge protectors.

I hope you don’t mind my cautioning my fellow readers about Xfinity. Comcast insisted I pay them for four month’s service when I wasn’t connected to their system. Their own technician stated this in writing. When I got tired of being harassed and cancelled their internet, Comcast bad mouthed me to the credit bureaus for about 9 years.

I switched to ATT and have had no problems. After my landlord stole my router and modem, ATT didn’t charge me for this. They even credited my account with $200 to encourage me to return. My credit scores have markedlly improved.

Thank you for this timely article. Best wishes in your endeavors.

Charles

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I use OneDrive, so all my documents are already in the cloud. I use an Excel spreadsheet (password protected) for password storage, which is in my documents, in the cloud. I generate my own random passwords just by selecting the password cell in that spreadsheet, then rolling my fist around on the keyboard while tickling the shift key. Then I copy that password, and paste it in the password field of the website for which I’m signing up.

It’s also simple enough to tether my phone as an internet hot spot, so I can still get online. Like @PKCano I live in a hurricane-prone area, west-central Florida, where we also have frequent and sometimes quite powerful thunderstorms. Many of the cell towers in my area appear to have backup generators. After Charlie, we were without power for ten days, POTS went down (a lot of the lines are strung on poles), but I still had cell phone service. For a couple of days I had to get up on the roof to get a strong signal, but I was never without cell service.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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TechTango

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Excellent article Susan.  Just when you think you got it all backed up, there is one more thing.

I once got that VIRUS Ransomware, really messed me up, but not for long, as I had Time Machine on my Apple, and a complete backup.  After a few hours all was normal again.  I even keep a double backup at my daughter’s house in case of a complete wipeout.

Thanks for all you do.  Bill

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With the increasing frequency of power outages caused by forest fires, high winds, tornados, hurricanes, and solar storms our single greatest need to plan for the unexpected is a backup power supply.

And now, the risk of a loss of U.S regional power supplies due to the growing trade war with Canada makes the need even greater.

Canada supplies over 27 million megawatt-hours of electricity to the U.S. – enough to power the lights in several million home.  And Canada is also a major supplier of crude oil and natural gas to America.

Some time ago we lost electric power for 14 days as a result of downed trees during a hurricane.

Without power we had:

• Limited access to the internet via our cellphones;
• Loss of use of our desktop computers, routers, and modems;
• Need to conserve power usage of our cellphones and laptops;
• No running water – we depend on a well;
• No heat other than from the wood stove in the living room and fireplace in the basement;
• No refrigeration; and
• For the first four days, an inability to get away from the house because the roads were blocked by downed trees and wires.

As a result, we purchased a backup generator to keep our lights on and in addition we run an extension cord out to the street so the neighbors can charge their phones and laptops.

What amazes us is the frequency at which the generator kicks in.  Sometimes for minuets and sometimes for hours.

And associated with each outage are power surges.  So, in addition to the generator, all or our electronics including the microwave are protected by surge protectors – not just our computers.

We also monitor regional power outages using PowerOutage.us   https://poweroutage.us/ and the power outage map posted online by our local electric distribution company.  Our utility’s outage map tracks:

• The total number of active outages in its service territory,
• The total number of its customers who are affected by outages,
• The street location of each individual outage,
• The number of customers affected by an individual outage,
• The status of an individual outage – has a crew been dispatched to fix the problem,
• The probable cause of each outage, and
• The estimated date and time that power will be restored.

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Lars220, SueW, TechTango

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“POTS” in my service area transitioned about 10 years ago:

Analog phone lines now connect to ONT [optical network terminal] inside home. ONT is connected to UPS to provide extended backup power. Everything is routed to telco over fiber.

 

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This is in the realm of “business continuity planning”, but it applies to individuals, also.

A key element is in identifying single points of failure — if an individual element is not functioning, then you’re dead in the water, without the capacity of working.

This is why I am unwilling to rely on cloud-based backups, because there are so many potential points of failure between my local storage and where my data may reside in the cloud.  There’s nothing wrong with doing cloud backups, but not exclusively. If you have cloud backups, but don’t have cloud connectivity, then you don’t have backups.

For me, it happens rarely, but often enough where I may not have Internet connectivity.  To that end, I make sure I have the phone number for my ISP’s tech support written down, and a copy at my desk.  If I can’t get to the ISP’s support page, then the support page is useless.  Yes, I can get there from my cell phone, but if something like LA’s recent wildfires take out significant infrastructure, I may not have cell coverage, either. And a local power outage can take out Internet connectivity in a way that it won’t for wired phone service.

 

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Ah, Defensive Computing, right up my alley

In the worst case, a cellphone may be able to use a satellite for communication. Its a new area with multiple competing systems/schemes.
https://defensivecomputingchecklist.com/satellite.communication.php

For storing files in the cloud, be aware that some cloud providers can read your files, while others can not.
https://defensivecomputingchecklist.com/SecureFileStorage.php

And, my own list for power outages and emergencies
https://defensivecomputingchecklist.com/power.outage.php

 

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

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Deo, SueW, lmacri, Cybertooth

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Great article Susan!
Regarding your Xfinity modem upgrade, did you happen to check the default security using Shields-up? I had a 2-year-old Xfinity modem with built-in wireless, and it was allowing ICMP traffic causing my shields-up scan to fail, and I could not secure it! The steps to close ICMP traffic were to log into the modem and change the firewall default of “low” security to “medium”, however this did not work, even selecting the highest level of firewall security allowed ICMP traffic! So, I traded the modem in for the most current version and out-of-the-box, it also allowed ICMP by default however when I set the firewall to “medium” it did [finally] block ICMP and passed the shields-up port scan.
I was this close to getting rid of the Xfinity rented device and replace it with a personally purchased cable modem and separate wireless router, which I may still do.

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