Email bomb threats

The Indiana Daily Student is carrying an article about an email bomb threat to Indiana University's Bryan Hall. The University of Iowa received a similar threat and noted that other universities are receiving these threats as well. With widespread email bomb threats spreading, it is useful to note that the email was sent with specific details - to a dean and threatening Bryan Hall in the case of IU, and threatening the library at UI. In addition, the article notes that the email was sent through an anonymous service. This is the modern day equivalent of phoning in your bomb threat from a payphone.

I've seen old style phone-in bomb threats can shut down classes and campus buildings for hours at a time. With the heightened security response from many schools in a post VA Tech mode, emailed bomb threats have a significant chance of disrupting school activities. As the school year starts, it will be interesting to see if this is just the beginning of a trend. Hopefully this won't become widespread - targeted availability attacks like this can wreak havoc on campus schedules and events.

Now is the time to review your emergency communications plan - can you communicate effectively to your staff, students, and other community members? Do you have evacuation plans for buildings?

365Main - an example of great disaster recovery communications

Even if you weren't effected by the 365Main power outage, you should read the status update posted by their president.

There are a few things to note here:

• The entire event is broken down with technical detail.
• Details of problem solving, maintenance, and testing are all available and relatively transparent - thus providing customers with detail about the event.
  
• The tone is professional and communicates issues and events clearly.
• Customers are reminded of what recompense their contract provides for them.
• There is a clearly explained troubleshooting process.
• There is a clearly explained plan to prevent future issues.
• The data is being made available to other data centers to help prevent similar issues elsewhere - thus giving back to the community.
  

Also worth noting is that the status has been regularly updated, and that each update includes current information and future steps.

If you are ever in a recovery situation, this is a great example of after action communication to follow.

On the technical side - remember that simply having backup power may not be enough - many of the customers who had power interrupted would have continued to function if they had dedicated UPS units - but without power to their network uplinks, they might not have been able to see the outside world, even if they had power to the machines themselves.