Understand How Data Losses Happen

Small business owners are often worried about data loss. Rightly so, because data loss has the potential to wipe out a business. We have identified the most common forms of data loss so you can see how they fit into your business and assess the risks related to each of these pitfalls.

1. Human Error

Human error – by way of unintentional data deletion, modification, and overwrites – has become much more prevalent in recent years. Much of this is the result of carelessly managed virtualization technology. While virtualization and cloud computing have enabled improved business continuity planning for many businesses, humans must still instruct this technology on how to perform.

The complexity of these systems often presents a learning curve that can involve quite a bit of trial and error. For instance, a support engineer may accidentally overwrite the backup when they forget to power off the replication software before formatting volumes on the primary site. Preventing such mistakes before they happen would be ideal.

2. File Corruption

Unintended changes to data can occur during writing, reading, storage, transmission, and processing – making the data within the file inaccessible. Software failure is a leading cause of data loss and is typically the result of bugs in the code. Viruses and malware can also cause individual data files to be deleted or entire hard drive partitions to be damaged or erased.

3. Hardware Failure

Storage devices may be at risk due to age or may fall victim to irreparable hard disk failure. Viruses and hackers can also potentially shut down a hard drive by inserting non-deletable malicious code and huge files via open, unprotected ports. If these malicious programs cannot be deleted, the entire hard drive may need to be reformatted, wiping out all the data.

4. Catastrophic Events / Theft

The threat of catastrophic events such as fire, flooding, lightning, and power failure is always a concern. Such events can wipe out data in a millisecond with no warning. Theft is also a data loss risk that companies must address.

While advances in technology like anytime/anywhere connectivity, portability, and the communication/information sharing capabilities of social media and crowdsourcing have revolutionized business, they have also increased theft risks.

More people are doing daily business on their laptops, iPads, and mobile phones. They also carry around portable media like thumb drives, USB sticks, and CDs. Physical theft of any of these devices can spell big trouble.

Data loss is as unique as the various sources from which it comes. The key is to identify the areas in which your business is weak and work toward a mitigation plan for each one of them. An MSP can act as a trusted partner in such cases, guiding you through the process of safeguarding your data.