How prepared are you for a massive data loss?

The ability of a business to recover quickly from an IT disaster cannot be underestimated. Getting back on your feet in a speedy manner can help avert financial loss, harm to reputation and other negative impacts. While we all hope that our own businesses will never be affected by disruptive incidents like cyber attacks, theft, fire or flooding, they can happen and failing to prepare is preparing to fail!

A good place to start when considering how prepared you are for a data loss is to look at some of the potential scenarios that could enable one, as while you may think you have plans in place you might not have covered every angle.

Physical theft
One way in which data can be lost is when a theft occurs on your premises, either from external criminals or rogue employees. If you fail to back up your data then the theft of a laptop, PC or other IT equipment can be a total disaster with no way for you to recover what you’ve lost.

Cyber theft
Another dangerous threat to businesses is that of cyber crime. Recent statistics released by Google showed that Ransomware, which is one of the newer forms of malware, has allowed criminals to extort more than £19m from victims since 2015 – many of which were businesses. If you have poorly trained staff that accidentally download Ransomware from email attachments and you also fail to have backups in place then you risk being extorted for your important data and files.

Accidental data loss
Another method of data loss can occur without any malicious intent at all. An employee could, for example, delete a folder of important client emails, or their computer may switch off in a power cut erasing hours of important work that hadn’t been saved correctly. In these instances it really helps to have a backup in place that is periodically updated and can help reduce the chances of that data being gone forever.

Natural disasters
Finally, a substantial threat to businesses can also come from fire, flooding, freak storms and earthquakes. While it’s true that insurance may cover some of your losses, it may be weeks and months before you can have equipment replaced and return to your offices. But, critically, if you have offsite backups in place then you may be able to retain access to important data and continue some of your work remotely from home.

–

Does your organisation need help preparing backup procedures to protect you in the event of a disaster? Our disaster recovery planning and cloud computing services are designed to keep your data safe, ensuring you’re ready for the unexpected. Don’t leave it till it’s too late – contact the experts at ECL today.