Many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be unaware of the impact data loss can have on their company. According to a data breach preparedness study by Experian, SMEs may struggle to survive if they became the victim of a six-figure breach.
We are therefore looking at the biggest causes of data loss so you can take the appropriate steps to secure your data.
Hard Drive Failure
One of the biggest threats to your data could be a hard drive failure, which could be due to an ageing drive, data corruption or the click of death. If you experience unusual noises, blue screens or a slow performance, it is worth backing up your data so you do not lose important documents, audio files and photos, which you may need to help grow your company. Fortunately, if you do experience a hard drive failure, you can turn to Secure Data Recovery, who can provide an effective data retrieval service to potentially recover some or all of your lost data.
Accidental Deletion
It can take time and hard work to create a professional business document, and just a matter of seconds to delete it from your files. You will, therefore, need to take steps to recover deleted files on the likes of Microsoft Word or check your recycling bin. Again, you can always turn to a data retrieval service if you cannot locate a file.
Ransomware
You may have heard of ransomware, which seems to be all over the news right now. Unfortunately, ransomware is becoming a common problem for companies across the world. As many large organizations have the finances and the talent to protect their data from cybercriminals effectively, many hackers are now turning their attentions to SMEs, as they often lack the protections of their larger counterparts.
Cyber criminals can, therefore, target vulnerable aspects of a company’s IT infrastructure to not only hack but take control of company data. The ransomware software can lock the computer from the user, requesting a financial transfer to unlock a company’s important data, which can include anything from customer, client and employee’s financial and personal information, as well as their analytics and documents.
Sadly, the ransom can cost SMEs a significant amount of money, and a business may be unable to recover financially from the attack or may struggle to recover from the lack of productivity. However, if a company chooses to back up their essential data on an external source, they can simply restore their computer and upload their documents, so it will not affect a company’s productivity or finances.
A company has a moral and legal responsibility to maintain their sensitive data effectively. Unfortunately, a loss of customer, employee or client information can offer serious legal and financial repercussions for a business owner. Unfortunately, ignorance is a fruitless defence in the eyes of the law, so it is essential you successfully store important information for the required period and securely dispose of confidential information.
So, to protect your company, adhere to your legal obligations and preserve your finances, it is important to successfully store your computer and recover any lost data as soon as possible.
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