Avoiding Non-Criminal Data Loss

There are lots of things that get lost in life — keys, wallets, top-secret security thumb drives — but aside from that last one, as a business, data loss is the most painful. And while NetCov is a cybersecurity company, we’re also a data protection company; unfortunately, not all data loss is caused by cyberattacks. While nefarious criminals can certainly wreak havoc on sensitive data, we often become victims of our own undoing. One-off accidents or mishaps can quickly turn into large-scale outages should the correct protective measures not be in place.

We don’t want that to happen to you. Here are the top causes of data loss not from hackers and how to avoid them.

The Top Causes for Business Data Loss

1. Equipment Failure

Whether at home or at work we’ve all likely experienced a loss of data due to some sort of hardware mishap. For personal usage, a computer’s hard drive could’ve gone out or a crucial report that was saved to a thumb drive was lost because the drive needed to be formatted. Failing equipment is one of the tougher forms of data loss because there are some scenarios where that data can’t be recovered or the cost associated with recovery efforts may not be worth it. On the higher end, server storage, including the latest and greatest solid-state drives, can bring down entire websites, or in some cases, entire data centers.

There’s this fun term called the bathtub curve which illustrates that most drives fail on a curve that — you guessed it — is shaped like a bathtub. The good news is that storage technology has become more resilient over the years, although they’re still prone to failure.

Best Way to Avoid Drive Crashes?

Off-site backup, plus multiple redundant backup copies across multiple drives

2. Human Error

Billy Joel famously said, “We’re only human, we’re supposed to make mistakes,” but Mr. Joel also wasn’t responsible for critical information systems as a living. That said, human error is indeed one of the biggest causes of data loss not from hackers. But a bad drive swap or manually deactivating backups to troubleshoot an error are both very real errors that can result in data loss. Those, of course, aren’t the only ways that human error can cause data loss.

Best Way to Avoid Human Errors With Data?

You can’t, at least not fully. No matter how many systems and procedures are in place, there’s always the potential for human error, even when humans aren’t directly involved. Relatively autonomous systems still need human interaction, so it’s impossible to fully rule out.

3. Power Failures

Would that surge protector really have made any meaningful difference? We’ll likely never know. But having a backup power source is definitely important, especially when dealing with troves of data like many medium-to-large businesses do. There’s never a good time for power failures, and even the protocols we’ve set up in the event of a power failure aren’t meant to be long-term solutions.

Best Way to Avoid Data Loss From Power Failures?

This one is tough. The obvious answer is backup power sources, but in the event of a natural disaster, offline, off-site, and unconnected backups are likely to be the only ways to be truly immune.

Data Loss Prevention

Data is the lifeblood of your business. From customer records to important company data, we deal with a lot of data vulnerabilities every day. And while the only thing guaranteed in life is death and taxes, there are ways to make sure your data is protected against total loss. Schedule a consult with one of our data experts to see how we can help design the perfect data center with recovery options today!