Data loss is a serious problem for businesses. Every business needs to know what steps to take to prevent against it.
How Much Does Data Loss Cost United States Businesses?
According to a 2014 report, it costs United States enterprises around $1.7 trillion a year. That figure is probably a lot higher today.
How much does that affect individual companies? Most estimates show that the average company loses $7 million a year from data loss. Of course, this number is inflated by a few large enterprises. However, even small businesses can face serious costs that could force them into bankruptcy.
All business owners need to be aware of the risks of data loss. They also need a data loss prevention contingency plan in place. Here are some things that they should be aware of.
Data loss can be caused by more than malware
A surprising number of people believe that viruses, worms and other forms of malware are the only cause of data loss. The reality is that many other problems can also be responsible. If you are storing data on a physical media drive, you could lose data if the storage unit is physically damaged. Similarly, data loss can occur if an online server is damaged in a major power outage, natural disaster or terrorist attack.
Human error is another common problem. People accidentally delete data all the time. One of the biggest reasons this happens is that they didn’t perform an upgrade properly.
Since there are so many different causes of data loss, it is important to make sure that all of your files are probably backed up. It is a good idea to have smaller files on at least one hard drive and flash drive. You should also try to store data on the cloud. The good thing about storing data on the cloud is that copies are made on different servers, so it is unlikely your data is lost if one server is compromise.
Lost data can often be recovered
Many people believe that data is lost for good after it is accidentally deleted or the storage unit is damaged. Fortunately, that is not the case.
Even after data is technically deleted, there are still fragments of it on your hard drive. Usually, it is simply marked to be overwritten. The data will still be there until new files are put in its place.
There are a number of tools that you can use to restore lost data. You should look into using them. Tools like Undelete business files have a great reputation.
Have the right malware protection in place
Protecting your system against malware is another very important part of the process. Malware is responsible for several terabytes of data lost every year. Computer worms have been especially destructive.
The good news is that having the right malware protection in place will significantly reduce the likelihood of losing data to a worm or virus. There are a number of great malware protection solutions on the market. Malware Bytes and Avast two of the best.
Fighting Against Data Loss Needs to be a top Priority
Data loss is a serious problem for businesses of all sizes. They must take all reasonable precautions to minimize it in 2018.