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Is Your Company Prepared for a Data Disaster?
/ Categories: Datashred News, August

Is Your Company Prepared for a Data Disaster?

 

Data has always been important for a business but now there is more of it than ever and also greater responsibilities on companies to protect that data.  This means that steps are needed to ensure the company handles its data securely and has a plan in place for a data disaster in the business.

 

Growth of data

According to the figures, we will have more than 40 times as much data in 2020 than we had in 2005.  Some call it the ‘zettabyte apocalypse’ due to the amount of data involved – a zettabyte is 10007 kilobytes.  As the amount of data we have increases, the need to safely store it increases and the risk of people stealing it also increases.

Added to this is mobile technology which adds a further layer of complexity – data can be generated at any time, in any place.  And the amount of this mobile data being created grows on a daily basis. Every person is creating more data and every business has to handle more.

 

Importance of backups

Managing data is, therefore, one of the key parts of owning a business and the starting point for any data security system is in the backup.  This is a copy of data that is stored somewhere different to the original so that if there is a data disaster, all isn’t lost.

Previously, most backups were kept on-site in some form of secure storage.  Go back far enough and a fireproof lock box with a tape backup would have been the normal approach.  Then disk backups became common but there are some problems with them – situations like software upgrades that corrupt backup copies.  This then means much older backups are used which means months’ worth of lost data.

 

Off-site backups

The modern solution to the backup problem is to use Secure Offsite Storage.  This is where you work with a specialist in the service to get backups and other data off the premises.  There is various options for this ranging from physical copies of data, backup disks or physical data storage or also cloud-based storage where the backups are performed over the internet.

All secure offsite storage companies offer places that are especially configured for the type of data storage you use.  This might mean climate-controlled vaults for physical data or secure servers that keep the data protected from hackers.

 

Handling a data disaster

A data disaster is a situation where your main server or computers are in some way compromised.  This might be due to a physical event like a fire or a flood. It might be due to corrupt software, a hacker gaining access or a virus.  Whatever the situation, the business needs to have a plan in place as to what will happen to prevent it from becoming a fatal problem.

This is where the off-site storage facility will be crucial.  Because data is backed up to this location, it is separate from the disaster that is affecting the main servers or equipment.  It means that new equipment can be brought online, and the backups easily accessed to restore the business systems. It also means that there is much less downtime to restore the data and therefore lost revenue and reputation.

Another important aspect of protecting your company from a data disaster is to make sure your staff keep on top of their paper document management. A plan should be put in place where any sensitive paperwork that has reached the end of its life is securely disposed of via a paper shredding service. It is easy to let paperwork build up over time, and leaving sensitive data exposed and open to theft is one of the most common reasons for a data breach happening within a business.

Hiring a trusted company, such as Restore, to handle your secure paper shredding services would be a good way to ensure that sensitive data never falls into the wrong hands.

 

Prepared for the worst

Most businesses go years without using their data disaster plan.  But if they need it, it is a crucial thing to have. By having a clear plan and working with the right partners to protect your data, you can be certain that if something does go wrong without your company, you have a simple and reliable system to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

Get in touch with us to find out more about the shredding options we can offer.

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