How To Learn From The O2 Mobile Outage

 

More than 32 million mobile customers lost their cellular service yesterday and had to resort to Wi-Fi. 

 

O2 says a complete and comprehensive root cause analysis is still in progress but it is thought to be due to an expired certificate in a version of its management software used by Ericsson and European telcos to provide services to subscribers.

 

What does this mean for business owners? This is a good reminder to take a look at your own systems.

 

The most common expiry problem that we see is when people forget to renew their website domain names. First their website goes down. Then they run the risk of somebody hijacking their domain name with a view to selling it back to them for an extortionate sum.

 

What can you do right now to protect yourself?

 

Make a software audit – are there any licence expiry dates?

Look at  your utility contracts for electricity, gas and broadband – there is usually a term of notice to quit a service. Plan in advance if you want to change provider.

Domain name – find out who you bought your domain name from and when it has to be renewed.

Review you subscription services for software, newsletters and memberships – you will probably find things that you are paying for and don’t need

Write down your backup plans – document your contingency plans for when your critical infrastructure breaks

Make diary entries for renewal dates and give yourself generous notice

 

Call me if you need help putting these plans in place.

 

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