Here's What to Do If You DON'T Want to Lose Your Data

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/darioruglioni/2613279524/

Whether you’ve got a small start-up business, or your tech is just for your own enjoyment, protecting your data is vital. From customer information to decades of photographs and documents, you shouldn’t ever run the risk of losing it. And now with advanced hackers and insidious viruses, it’s getting easier and easier to have your data deleted, corrupted or stolen. ​
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So, how can you protect your data? Luckily there are a number of things you can do to help keep you and your data safe.

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Get The Right Tech

If you travel with your tech a lot, the first thing you should consider is two-factor authentication. Biometrics would also be a good feature to have, for added security. Two-factor authentication, especially with biometrics, means that even if your device is stolen or lost, you won’t necessarily have your data opened up to strangers. Check out this recent post of ours about other essential things to look for when buying new technology.

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Ensure You Have The Right Kind of Data Storage 

Gone are the days when you need to backup all your data onto huge, bulky hard drives. Now, your options are much broader. From the cloud to small, compact servers, you can pick the storage that suits your needs the best. For personal use, you might just want to back your data up on your device’s storage, and then something in the cloud. If this is all new to you, this is a great beginner’s guide to cloud storage. But if you’re running a business, you’ll need to be far more stringent. The cloud is a great option, but it’s good to know exactly where your data is - which is where data centers come in. If you can back some of your data up into servers in a separate data center, you can be sure that it’s actually somewhere - rather than just floating around in the cloud.

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Compliance is Key

via GIPHY

If you run a small business, you’ll also need to adhere to government regulations. There are a number of ways you need to treat your data to ensure it applies with federal laws. One of the most important things to consider is where your data is stored. In most countries, you’re required to store it in three different places. This, for example, could be in the cloud, in your hard drives, and then backed up in different drives or on tape in a different location. However, this can get expensive, so be sure to do in-depth research on any data center colocation pricing.

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Backup Your Data ASAp

If you’re only using your data for personal matters, you might not backup your data that often. But if you’re running a business, you should be doing it at least once a day. Just think: if you suddenly lose your data, what would be the impact of losing an hour’s worth? A day’s worth? A week’s worth? Once you know the answer to this, you can work out how often you need to back it up. This infographic breaks all of this down in an awesome way - and you might be surprised at some of the stats.