Keep Your Data Safe by Planning for the Worst
Data problems can and will develop. There may be vulnerabilities in your cyber security that gives outside parties the opportunity to steal information. Older, archived files could start to degrade and become unreadable. Even not systematically tracking your data could lead to lost servers, deleted data, and decentralized filing systems. Part of keeping your data safe is minimizing these instances as much as possible. The other part is planning for them.
What should you do to prepare for a data loss?
Making a plan is the first step to keeping your business on track. Companies with data that is subject to HIPAA regulation are required to have business continuity and disaster recovery plans. Even if those stipulations don’t apply to your business, making specific, step-by-step procedures quickens your response time. Regardless of what plans you build or how you organize responsibilities, make sure that you:
Have a template prepared to alert impacted parties.
Most business-to-business contracts have language regarding response times for data losses. Depending on your business, you could also be legally required to alert customers and the public within twenty-four to seventy-two hours of discovering the problem. Make two to three templates ahead of time (with your lawyer or legal department’s help) so you can send it off within the window and don’t accidentally say something wrong in the pressure of the moment.
Have an accessible back-up.
Most businesses have one of two different backup systems. Either they have a short-term collection of data that holds all the progress made over the past day or week, or they have a server that holds manually archived back-ups of data from fixed points. It’s best to have both. Not only does that mean business can continue because you have redundancies, you have a collection of restore points. That’s useful for tracing back data corruptions or accidentally deleted information.
These are just two of the steps that should be in place for peace of mind. Go to PC Geeks to learn more about the data recovery policies and tools that can make your company stronger.