Unmasking the enemies of business data, and how to avoid them
By Wayne Pulkin
In a previous article, we discussed the 3 R’s of the backup solution for small businesses, and why it is essential to have the best backup solution for your business.
This month, we will unmask the 5 enemies of business data, so that you know WHY it so vital to have the best backup solution for your business.
The 5 enemies are:
1. Hard disk failures
2. Viruses
3. Theft
4. Software bugs
5. Lightning and other environmental factors
Let’s talk about hard disk failures first. The hard drive(s) in your computer system are where your business data is stored. The hard drive is made up of two or more rigid disk-shaped platters that spin at a very high speed. The “heads” hover over the spinning disk platters reading and writing to the disk. The clearance between the spinning disk platters and the “heads” is much less than the width of a human hair. It is truly an amazing engineering feat, but it has its potential problems.
Basically, hard disks fail because those “heads” come in contact with one of more of the spinning disk platters. Hard disks can fail at any time. They may last one month, one year, or many years. They may fail the day after you get your new computer. The uncertainty of when your hard disk will fail, and it will fail, should prompt you to invest in a backup solution for your business.
The next enemy of your business data are viruses. Computer viruses operate in much the same way as human viruses. Just as a virus makes you sick, a computer virus makes your computer “sick”. It is estimated that computer viruses cost businesses approximately 55 billion dollars in damage in 2003, and it has gone up every year. There are approximately 2-3 new viruses created every day! A virus on your computer can at best be a nuisance, but most of them are there to delete, steal, or ruin your data. So be sure your business is protected by good virus protection software and a reliable backup solution.
The third enemy is theft. You will be shocked at these alarming statistics!
1. Laptop theft doubled in 2004 since 2001
2. FBI survey revealed that more than 600,000 laptops and desktop computers were stolen in 2003, and that number has remained steady according to the latest survey - 3.97% of stolen laptops and desktops were NEVER recovered
3. The average company loss due to theft of just one computer is $47,000
4. Nearly three 75% of survey respondent companies from a BSI computer theft survey had between 1 and 9 computers stolen in the last 12 months (2004). Nearly 10% replied that they had more than 25 computers stolen in the last 12 months
5. 67.7 % of respondents reported the estimated value of data on their stolen computer at $25,000 or less; 9.2% estimated the value at $1,000,000 or more, and 2.3% estimated the value at more than $10,000,000
6. The next computer theft will occur before you finish reading this article.
I personally know of two companies whose computer were stolen. One had their laptop stolen and the other had all of the desktops stolen. In both cases, the thieves were never found nor were the stolen computers recovered.
The fourth enemy is software bugs. Have you suffered the frustration of clicking on an application to open it and when it opened, nothing was there, or only partial information was shown? That is most always caused by a software bug. A software bug is a programming error in the software code that causes problems in applications. According to Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Sustainable Computing Consort-ium, there are 20 to 30 software bugs per every 1000 lines of code in the typical commercial software. That is the software you buy to help you business. As an example, I have a client who clicked on her client contact application and when it opened, all her contacts were gone. But since she was backing up her data, she was able to get those contacts back. You never know when an application will fail. It can work for months or even years, then suddenly, it fails and the information is gone!
The fifth and final enemy of your business data is lightning. Although there are other environmental factors, we are focusing on lightning because it will affect every business no matter where they are located. According to data loss statistics for the years 2000 and 2001, lightning was fourth following accidents, theft, and power surges as the causes of computer data loss. Here are five statistics about lightning in the US:
1. There are 2000 thunderstorms occuring at any given moment
2. There are 100 lightning strikes every second
3. There are 8 million lightning strikes every day
4. There are 1 billion volts in a lightning flash
5. The average lightning flash would light a 100 watt light bulb for 3 months
Lightning can strike up to 5 miles away and still cause damage to your computer.
So, make sure your business is secure from these 5 enemies of your business data.
Original Article
