In the dictionary resilience is a noun defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”.
We can all agree that this past month has tested a lot of people’s resilience. Hurricanes are among the most destructive forces that repeatedly and predictably hit the United States. It’s one of those things we plan for.
The Live Oak has a widespread root system as large as its canopy to make it resistant to sustained winds.
In New Orleans we build levees higher and higher. We have done this over the years because the wetlands that used to absorb and decrease the storm surge have disappeared. The Army Corp of Engineers classifies the levees and barriers surrounding the New Orleans area as a “risk reduction system”. This means it is designed not to fail like the previous levees did during Katrina but we can get water over topping and coming over into some of the neighborhoods. That is not ideal but better than the structural failures in 2005.
Many people who have rebuilt in the areas that were destroyed have built new homes that are raised with the ground level designed to take on flooding. These people are ready for the next one. My own home, built over a 100 years ago, is raised three feet above the ground. It also sits on the natural levee of the Mississippi River which raises the property above sea level. When it was built they built off the ground and areas that flooded were reserved for farmland. They learned from previous failures and observed the environment to build for resiliency.
Which now brings me to Equifax. When the eye of the storm repeatedly passes over you, exposing you to the highest wind speeds, you have to be ready. Considering the data that Equifax has they needed the most robust and resilient system. They were brought down by a bug that could have been fixed by a two-month old patch. On my WordPress sites I install security software that monitors activity. I get reports that people in Russia, Europe, Asia and Africa are trying to login. This is an everyday occurrence. I make sure site software and plugins are up-to-date. Equifax was using software called Apache Struts. Every software developer from Microsoft to Apple to Apache Struts sends out alerts about patches to critical bugs.
Now for a little bit of rant. Critical bug fixes are your hurricane warnings. These are the developers handing you sand bags and telling where to stack them and how high. Disciplined, preventative care minimizes your risk of catastrophic events. If you are in need of assistance securing and updating your website, drop me an email or give me a call.