Many of our clients don’t realize the connection, but data recovery, data protection and security are inextricably linked within an organization. If your computer is not secure, particularly when you connect to the Internet, you could become a victim of viruses and malware that can damage files and render mission critical data inaccessible.

Additionally, organizations that exhibit lax IT security also find they are lacking in data protection that could prevent a data recovery emergency. Data protection, just like data security, is never complete. An organization never reaches an endpoint where they can say, “We are 100 percent secure and protected and no longer have to worry about threats.”

IT security specialist Debbie Mahler says it very well in this blog post published on tech blog Tripwire, “[Security] is a continuous, ongoing process of always staying one step ahead of the threats.”

She goes on to say that your IT system is only as secure as the weakest link. This is a common statement in IT, in general, but it’s particularly eye-opening when we look at it in terms of security. She points out that your staff is typically the weakest link in your IT systems security. If the people in your organization don’t take data protection and security seriously, and if systems and protocols aren’t in place to enforce security measures, you are setting yourself up for loss and a data recovery emergency. 

Common Sense Security
First, at the most basic level, common sense measures must be taken to protect data theft and vulnerability within an organization, which includes users:

–  locking their workstations with a password before they leave their desks

• -not leaving mission critical data exposed before the password-protected screensaver kicks in
• -positioning their monitor so it can’t be viewed over their shoulder from people outside or within the office (the monitor should be facing the wall, and no one but the user should be on that side of the desk)
• -not leaving laptops unattended where someone can install a keystroke logger to access passwords
• -making sure no one can discern their password when they enter it in a public place
• -creating passwords are difficult to hack, consisting of a combination of numbers, letters and special characters

These could be considered six steps toward better security at the end-user level. The Tripwire article goes on to bring up another very important point. “All it takes is one contaminated USB flash drive inserted by a vendor to wreak havoc or provide a back door into sensitive data customer data.”

Security at Every Level, Even In A Data Recovery Emergency
Most large companies today are savvy about the big stuff when it comes to data security and data protection, using encrypted hard drives and RAID arrays with built-in redundancy, as well as virtual servers that provide snapshots for easy back up.

But many forget the everyday things they can do to enhance IT security: making sure your employees are educated on the importance of security and best practices, and choosing vendors you can trust if those companies will have any contact with your network or server.

This extends to finding a data recovery service that can help you in an emergency and treat your data with the same care as you do, providing the same level of security that you offer on your own servers. If you send 24 Hour Data an encrypted drive, your recovered data remains secure after we recover it. That’s just one more part of the 24 Hour Data difference.