A data loss situation is frustrating and can be disastrous at the business level. For every company, its data is of utmost importance. Businesses store important documents and clients’ information that they can’t afford to lose. But no matter how much you hate such disastrous situations, sometimes you end up losing your data. So, every company must take some preventive measure to avoid data loss scenarios. Here in this post, you’ll find some ways to prevent data loss. But before that, let’s first understand what data loss means.
What is Data Loss?
Data loss is a situation when your data is either corrupted or deleted. Data unavailability where data become inaccessible temporarily during power outages is not regarded as data loss. In a data loss situation, your data may become inaccessible or unrecoverable due to various reasons. The most common causes of data loss include hardware failure, software error, and human error. Thus, the data loss scenarios can be grouped into the following common types-
A company may experience data loss due to any of the above-mentioned reasons. Data loss prevention is the set of practices which prevents sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands. To protect your sensitive business data, here are some tips to prevent data loss.
Regular Backups
The most important step in preventing data loss is maintaining a regular backup. The businesses that generate a lot of data needs to back up every important file- from Word documents and spreadsheets to databases, CRM data, and every other data stored on the servers. The companies that have a routine of backing up critical data is least affected by data theft and losses. A backup ensures that deleted or corrupted data can be quickly recovered. Depending on your specific needs, it’s essential to set your recovery point objectives (RPO). The RPO establishes the time period in which the data is to be backed up. This means if your RPO is 24 hours, you will lose the data generated in a day, in case of data deletion or corruption.
Keep Updating your Systems
The out-dated systems are prone to hacks. So to avoid data breaches and other software malfunctions, you need to patch and update your system. Whether you have a small business or a big company, security updates are crucial to ensure that systems remain as secure as possible. Besides updating your systems, it is also important to know when to upgrade them. All hardware has a specific lifespan which means you should upgrade systems and software before they become unstable due to wear and tear.
Develop a Data Loss Prevention & Recovery Plan
To prevent data loss, companies develop a robust IT system. They implement Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions to define, monitor and control sensitive data. This system ensures that sensitive data cannot be transferred outside the company network over the internet or on unauthorized employee devices. Also, a firewall and antivirus solution is necessary to avoid viruses and malware that can steal your sensitive information. In addition to developing a recovering plan, companies should also educate their employees. This is important because often data loss is a result of employee negligence.