Digital Jenga – Ep 529 

Welcome to “Digital Jenga,” where the tower’s made of cloud apps, power cords, and fragile backup plans and every pulled piece brings us closer to chaos. Today’s episode is a thought experiment that feels a little too real: What happens when everything goes down but your stress levels? Grab your imaginary generator and follow along as we walk through scenarios that are way more common (and hilarious) than you’d think, because nothing says fun like discovering your entire system was balancing on one Wi-Fi signal and a prayer.

In this episode:

Digital Jenga – Ep 529

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HIPAA for MSPs with Security First IT

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Digital Jenga

Good Morning! Boom just happened!

Dependencies matter and often they are overlooked. Today we are going through a thought exercise to see what you would catch and what you need to think about in your world. Here is your scenario to image and then you can use this as an example to create one for your environment.

• Citywide outage hits the area around the main office; other offices an hour away are fine.
• Remote staff: some affected, some not.
• Backup Internet (if any) is too slow for “normal.”

Note to self – everyone else around you will be dealing with the same problem. Scrambling for whatever options they may have that are working. That will jam up connections that are operational.

The layers to name out loud (keep it simple)

• People & Keys → who can log in / approve / reset – what about the security systems and card readers
• Devices → laptops, label/receipt printers, scanners, credit card readers
• Pipes → power, ISP, router/Wi-Fi, cell hotspot
• Login → Microsoft/Google account, SSO/IdP, MFA method
• Apps → EHR/scheduling, e-fax, payment portal, file storage

Note to hit: outages usually break a layer, not the app.

“This won’t work even if that works”

Phones & Voice

• Phones up, Internet back …but router not on power/UPS ⇒ VoIP still dead.
• Cell hotspot works …but the main number isn’t carrier-level forwarded ⇒ patients still hit the dead VoIP path.
• VoIP provider up …but PoE switch down ⇒ desk phones have no power.

Logins & MFA

• EHR portal up …but Microsoft/Google sign-in down ⇒ can’t reach EHR because it rides SSO.
• SSO up …but the MFA app on your phone needs data ⇒ no code, no login.
• MFA codes OK …but phone battery dead ⇒ no access (cue spare hardware key / printed recovery codes).

Email/Chat/Meetings

• Teams/Zoom reachable …but company login is down ⇒ meetings won’t join.
• Gmail/Outlook up …but DNS hiccup ⇒ can’t resolve your domain = no mail to your users.
• Alt chat (Signal/SMS) fine …but numbers not shared ahead ⇒ no one knows where to look.

Web & DNS

• Internet connected …but DNS resolver failing ⇒ web addresses don’t translate; EHR URL looks “down.”
• Vendor site healthy …but SSL inspection or VPN client blocks when it can’t phone home ⇒ app won’t load.

Payments

• Card reader powered …but needs a cloud login you access via email ⇒ no sign-in.
• Payment portal reachable …but address verification service timeouts over congested mobile data ⇒ declines spike.
• Banking site up …but only one user can approve and they’re in the outage zone ⇒ payouts stuck.

Printing / Scanning

• PC fine …but label/receipt printer died ⇒ lab tests/ routing sheets /receipts halt.
• Scanner OK …but it is configured to scan to your cloud server not local devices.

Remote Work Mix

• Some staff online …but files only in cloud drive requiring SSO from your main office server ⇒ they’re gated anyway.
• Remote biller up …but eligibility API throttled (area congestion) ⇒ batch checks, don’t live-query.

Congestion reality check (use one line)

• “Everyone is hammering the same working towers/links—expect timeouts, throttling, and SMS delays even if your phone shows bars.”

So there you have it. Digital Jenga isn’t just a catchy metaphor; it’s a full-blown survival scenario where every piece you didn’t think mattered suddenly holds up the whole operation. The good news? You don’t have to wait for a citywide outage to find your weak spots. Unplug, test, and prepare while the Wi-Fi still flows freely and the coffee’s still hot. Because when boom happens, the only thing worse than being offline is realizing your plan B is still just a to-do list.

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