How To Prepare Your Network For Unexpected Crisis

An unexpected crisis can take on different forms and present unique challenges. The most current example is COVID-19, which is a pandemic that the world was not expecting and was thus unprepared for.

From apparel to hospitality to IT consulting firms, businesses across the world felt the impact of the pandemic. One of the main reasons businesses were affected this badly is because they were not prepared for this kind of crisis. COVID-19 has thus acted as a reminder as to why it is important to prepare your network for unexpected crisis.

Recognise the threat

There are different classes of threats your network may face during a time of crisis. Being aware of the threats you could face is a key step towards preparedness.

Unprotected infrastructure is a threat that IT managed service experts will always watch out for. This can be due to prolonged deterioration or a natural disaster. Regardless of what caused it, unprotected infrastructure can affect anything from public transportation systems to private financial exchange systems.

Loss of electricity and connectivity, disruption to essential services, and damage to buildings and other infrastructure can be a result of this type of threat. Networks can also be affected by unprotected infrastructure and network monitoring solutions by ITaffix, for instance, will take into consideration the level of threat from unprotected infrastructure during any unexpected crisis.

Vulnerable technology is a threat that any IT consulting company should be prepared for. IT consulting service experts at an organisation like ITaffix offer network monitoring services to identify and detect vulnerabilities and issues with networks.

As much as technology has developed over the years, the vulnerabilities in these systems are still a threat IT consulting firms must be prepared for. This is enhanced by society’s dependence on the internet.

Several companies, for instance, have switched to digital systems. Thus, vulnerable technology can disrupt a company’s operations within a very short time and even affect a country’s economy. Vulnerable technology gives room for cyber theft and identity theft and a company that wants to prepare their network for a crisis of this nature will invest in network monitoring services and IT managed service experts.

A threat that many IT consulting firms fail to be prepared for are underestimated disasters. IT consulting firms that provide network monitoring solutions may be aware of the worst case scenario but may also assume the odds of a crisis being the worst case scenario are too low. In addition to this, IT managed service experts may want to remain optimistic about the impact of any crisis, thus underestimating the severity of it.

While underestimated disasters themselves can pose a huge threat to networks, they can also come coupled with vulnerable technology and unprotected infrastructure. This is a situation an IT consulting company like ITaffix will be prepared for by considering all possible outcomes of any given crisis.

The fourth type of threat to consider is innovative geopolitical attacks. While the general population of a country may think of cyber theft and identity theft when they talk about cyber-attacks, network monitoring solutions consider another type of cyber-attacks as well. These are carried out on a much larger scale with the sabotage or destruction of electronic infrastructure.

These attacks can be carried out by independent hackers but IT consulting firms must also prepare for attacks by terrorist groups and governments. Attacks of this nature can affect society, but also a country’s economy and governance.

How to prepare

Recognising and identifying the different levels or types of threats a network can face gives an IT consulting company the opportunity to plan a response to address the unique issues, challenges, and dangers of these threats.

However, network monitoring solutions cannot include a precise response for every single perceivable threat. Instead, the best way to prepare for an unexpected crisis is by developing broad categories of threat response, which will give IT consulting service experts several response options to choose from depending on the level of threat as well as the unexpected crisis.

This is a better approach to preparing a network for unexpected crisis and is an approach taken by companies like ITaffix when providing network monitoring solutions.