Top Tips to Manage Data Loss and Data Restoration

Data loss poses a significant threat to companies across industries irrespective of size. Depending on the magnitude of the data loss, companies could lose days or months to restore or recover the lost information that could even be mission-critical. Details can occur due to a variety of reasons including intentional (malicious) or accidental data deletion, corruption, theft and more. This could also be a result of viruses, physical damage or formatting errors that can impact data and even render the data ‘unreadable’ by both humans and software. Whatever the reason for the data loss may be, the impact is the same – significant time and productivity loss and in worse scenarios, a longstanding impact on the company’s reputation and financial health. It is little wonder then that the Data Backup and Recovery Software market size is posting healthy growth and is expected to reach USD 8892.2 million by the end of 2026 (from USD 4588.8 million in 2022), with a CAGR of 9.8% during 2022-2026.

Data recovery can be a complicated process without adequate backup and may require the assistance of IT professionals. The process is also typically cost, time and resource-intensive. However, it is definitely worse when businesses cannot recover the data at all. This is why it’s so critical for businesses to apply data loss prevention measures well in advance. This can help them significantly reduce the potential for data loss by addressing the underlying causes that ultimately lead to data loss. Managed IT Services Lafayette offers some of the industry’s best data backup solutions and data backup services.

Top Common Causes of Data Loss

Human Error

Human error continues to be the most pervasive and difficult to fix reason behind data losses. For businesses, a simple mistake of unintentional deletion/ overwriting of data files can result in significant disruption and productivity loss. Human error can also be a factor in other reasons behind a company losing data such as damage to physical assets including hard drive damage, accidental tumble and damage to network equipment, liquid spills, hard drive formatting and software damage such as software corruption. A key factor behind mitigating human errors in data loss is to have adequate training in place for all your employees. This can help your teams have an in-depth understanding of the data processing mechanisms and backup functions. Something as simple as being aware of automatic backups of documents vs. saving them manually can save your employees from a lot of confusion in the long run. The best way to mitigate human error is to implement a greater degree of automation in your business processes. This effectively gets rid of significantly shrinks the potential for human interaction with data, minimizing risks. This also results in a more optimized workflow resulting in better productivity and reduced scope of error. You should also implement effective backup processes to back up all your data on site or in the cloud. Storing your files in the cloud is a particularly effective way of accessing previously saved versions of a document when you accidentally delete something. However, in cases of a cyber-attack or a data breach, recovering lost data may be more difficult and require the use of an effective file recovery software. File recovery software are particularly useful in scanning the system hard drive to detect and restore lost data.

Viruses and Malware

Viruses and malware can not only result in data loss but completely disrupt your usual business operations. Popular forms of distributing such attacks are through emails or phishing attacks that contain malicious attachments or links. A simple but effective way to protect against malware is by installing effective anti-virus software. But in order to maintain the effectiveness of such software, you also need to keep it updated and regularly run scans. Cybersecurity Services in New Orleans offers premium Data Loss Prevention Systems to businesses of all sizes.

Hard Drive Damage

Hardware malfunction is also a major reason behind data loss. Recent estimates suggest that around 140 thousand hard drives crash every week with 60 percent resulting in crashes due to mechanical issues and 40 percent due to human misuse or error. Hard drives can also get damaged through overheating – a result of overuse or lack of maintenance leading to dust build ups. Hard drives can also just wear out over time. You should always implement Data Loss Prevention methods to protect your data through regular backups of your hard drive on an external drive or on the cloud server.

How to Prevent Data Loss?

Use of Firewalls and Antivirus

The most obvious way to prevent data loss is through the use of firewalls and antivirus solutions to protect your systems from malware, viruses, and other cyberattacks.

Employee Training

Human error has remained the most potent threat to any company’s data security. The only way to protect your data and systems from human errors is to constantly train them in proper handling of equipment and security awareness. Your employees need to be able to detect early warning signs of cyber-attacks such as phishing attempts, and also understand safe data storage methods.

Regular Backups

Up-to-date and secure backups are your first line of defense against all types of data loss. You should always ensure redundancy and availability of backups. It is also advisable to store your data both on premise and offsite, so you can protect your data from physical incidents at the workplace or impact from natural disasters. Cloud-based backups can also prove highly cost-effective and secure. IT Support Lafayette can help your business implement the right data backup plan and data loss prevention technology.