12 ways to prepare for and prevent data loss disasters

Our vulnerabilities have been brought to the surface in recent years. For us as humans as well as our Systems, Processes, and Devices. Natural and human-made disasters as well as other contingencies can still cause significant damage and bring businesses to a grinding halt.

Now is the time for companies, both big and small, to take steps to ensure Business Continuity and Disaster Resilience (BCDR). In this increasingly digitised world, Backup and Disaster Recovery must be a top priority for businesses because the repercussions of even a single data loss incident could be fatal.

For example, if a health service provider was to lose all patient data after a fire destroyed their on-premises backup device, it could cause irreparable damage to their business.

In this article, we’ll break down different types of data loss disasters, how to prepare for them, and how to leverage VITG’s Business Continuity as a Service (BCaaS) to meet the security and compliance obligations applicable to your business.

The 5 major causes of data loss

From natural disasters like hurricanes and floods, to cybersecurity threats such as malware and phishing attacks, data loss disasters come in many forms. We’ve listed each type and how to plan and prepare for them:

1. Natural Disasters

This covers everything from storms, hurricanes and floods to fires, tsunamis and volcano eruptions. In most cases, you can expect infrastructural damages, power failure, and mechanical failures – which could then lead to data loss.

2. Hardware and Software Malfunctioning

Software and hardware failure can cause data loss if you don’t have Backups and DR measures in place. It could be due to bugs, glitches, configuration errors, programmatic errors, component failures or simply because the device is at its end of life, or the software is outdated.

3. Unforeseen Circumstances

Data loss can happen due to random, unexpected scenarios. For instance, a portable hard disk held by one of the employees could get stolen, your server room may have a water leak because of a plumbing issue, or there could even be a pest infestation in one of your data centres.

4. Human factor

Aberdeen Research found that everyday human errors cause nearly 64% of data loss incidents. These errors range from accidental file deletions and overwriting of existing files, to naming convention errors, forgetting to save or backup data, or spilling liquid on a storage device.

5. Cyberthreats

Your business may fall prey to Malware, Ransomware, and Virus Attacks, which could leave your data and backups corrupt and irrecoverable. Additionally, data loss could be caused by malicious insiders with unauthorised access, which often goes under the radar. A recent study by the CERT Insider Threat Center shows that 23% of all electronic crime events are due to employee action or involvement.

12 ways to prepare for and prevent data loss disasters

As you can see, data loss disasters can manifest in a wide variety of ways. The key is to be proactive and plan for these disasters. Don’t wait for disaster to strike.

Here are 12 things you can do to improve your business’s data resilience:

1. Perform a business impact analysis and draft a plan on how to recover key functions in the event of a disaster.
2. Define an acceptable Recovery Point Objective and Recovery Time Objective.
3. Set up a Business Continuity team that will take charge during a disaster.
4. Train your staff in backup management and data recovery.
5. Back up critical business data off-site and on the cloud.
6. Conduct threat analysis and define recovery steps for each threat.
7. Perform frequent security audits and mock drills to review the efficiency of your disaster response.
8. Keep the plan up to date and make sure everyone on the team knows their role.
9. Banking information should be stored in a way that it can be accessed quickly and securely in the event of a disaster.
10. Invest in a robust backup and disaster management solution that is frictionless, secure, offers SaaS data backup and doesn’t require extra hardware or network bandwidth.
11. Make sure you have a remote monitoring tool.
12. Employ waterless fire protection systems, moisture sensors, surge protectors and backup battery systems.

What BCDR solution is right for you?

While the tips above can help you plan and prepare for a data loss incident, it’s clear that your data is too important to leave to chance or in the hands of someone less experienced.

Data loss disasters are inevitable. But you can minimise their impact by making Business Continuity a critical component of your Backups and Disaster Recovery plans. One way to get a real start on this is to work with experienced IT management firms that offer Security Services and Managed Services with critical Disaster Recovery and Data Protection components.

At Virtual IT Group, we have strong expertise in BCDR. Our BCaaS solutions monitor and manage your IT environment to stop and prevent problems from happening and restore services as quickly as possible with automated solutions. Our Security Services include robust protection of your intellectual property from breaches, hackers, and internal errors.

If you’d like to learn more about BCDR and how to protect your valuable data, you can contact our friendly team today to discuss your needs.