Disaster: When all is at stake

A system that aspires to become a global financial operating system, must be stress tested. Running nodes should be prepared for disaster.

Likely points of failure identified. Disaster communication channels set up. Recovery procedures identified. Testing procedures developed.

- has a methodology for decentralized stress testing of the main network been developed - by and for stakepool operators?
- are participating stakepools being rewarded for taking part in mainnet disaster recovery tests?

- Are there enough incentives in place for participating in the Cardano testnet?
- are stakepool operators able to conduct limited network stress testing (overload, disconnection, bad actor, DDoS … scenarios) and are they rewarded for participating in these tests (instead of being punished by losing slots)?
- have new guidelines, recommendations and emergency communication channels been established for stakepool operators who wish to take part in these emergency preparations?
- has a a dedicated risk-assessment and risk-management team been set up?
- have protocols been developed for recovering from an emergency situation that could take most of the main network offline?
- have proposals been developed for building in different kinds of redundancies?
- have new benchmarks been developed to measure whether the Cardano stake pool network is safer, more stable, more resilient and more decentralized?
- have wider screening of risk sources been performed: CyberSecurity, political and regulatory risks, internet-related risks etc.

Disaster recovery (DR) is an area of security planning that aims to protect an organization from the effects of significant negative events.
Having a disaster recovery strategy in place enables an organization to maintain or quickly resume mission-critical functions following a disruption.
Cardano as a proposed financial operating system for the world must have several layers of built in redundancies even for events that may seem remote or very unlikely now.
Although a testnet exists, real-world conditions can never be fully replicated. Maybe proposers can develop a way of incentivizing further SPO participation in the Cardano testnet and more simulations.

It is great that IOHK/IOG is currently spearheading efforts, but SPOs should also initiate a decentralized and coordinated effort that could complement the existing activities.

Responsibility cannot be centralized, it is best if it is shared.

One aspect of a system's stability is the fact that the system is able to look at itself in the mirror and rebuild itself in real time to adapt to environmental threats.
Threats to stakepool operators are direct threats to the system itself.
There is a wide range of potential risks that both need to be identified and mitigated. These do not only include network-related parameters and threats, but also potentially social engineering / hacking risks, cybersecurity, impersonations, political and regulatory risks, business risks, etc.

Stakepool operators may be wary of taking their pools offline for any type of stress testing as they might lose the opportunity to forge blocks and they may lose rewards and delegators.

This might be addressed as part of this challenge, where SPOs might be rewarded in some form for taking part in these essential activities.

It would be good if SPOs would take an active part in submitting proposals for this challenge -as they are the beneficiaries and the best candidates to address the issues at stake.

The budget has been set at USD150,000 as it is a critical element of network safety.

Important note: This is a Fund7 Challenge Setting proposal - for a future challenge in Fund 7. This means I am not personally applying for funding in this challenge! The proposed budget of USD150,000 would go to fund proposals developed by future proposers in Fund 7 who would apply to find solutions to this challenge. I have no proposed solutions nor am I suggesting the best way of addressing this Challenge it will be up to proposers in Fund 7, if this is selected as a future Challenge.