Business data loss: a nightmare for companies

Business data loss can be detrimental for businesses. Organizations – from small to medium-large – depend on technology when it comes to managing business operations and data storage.

Unfortunately, technology is a double-edged sword.

If digitization helps business management, a hacker attack can cause a loss of crucial data and information. Heavy financial losses and delays in operations are around the corner.

We have covered these issues in our blog about the Campari case.

 

A few numbers

How real are these risks?

It is estimated that 75% of SMBs have no data recovery plans in the event of a hostile event against their IT infrastructure such as ransomware, for example.

Sudden data loss is almost always lethal: 90% of small businesses that experience it fail within a year.

96% of companies that have a well-defined strategy in case of data loss survive instead.

 

Why are companies losing data?

There are so many reasons. Here are the main ones:

  1. Human error (see our blog dedicated to the Human Factor)
  2. Damaged and / or compromised hard drive
  3. Software corruption
  4. Intrusion and / or sabotage
  5. Power outage

 

What happens when data is lost?

You may think that a loss of your data is bad news for your business or organization.

Think again, because it is much worse.

A damage assessment includes what has been lost and a possible strategy to try to recover your data or part of it. As we said above, the damage is usually so extensive that those who suffer such a loss are forced to stop their operations.

But it all depends on the circumstances. If the loss is caused by a power outage and essentially involves unsaved work, the damage is limited.

If a hacker manages to break into the company’s IT infrastructure and steal data that relates to a competitive advantage, the damage can be irreparable: the hacker could auction the company’s knowledge and know-how to resell it to the highest bidder, possibly a competitor interested in attacking the market in which the damaged organization operates.

When this happens, the hacker actually begins the company liquidation procedure …

 

Conclusions

How does one protect a company from data loss, then?

Prevention is better than cure. Indeed, it is necessary to prevent because in certain cases, treatment is completely useless, as we have seen above.

Among the tips that we can suggest, we point out:

1. Businesses must adopt strategic plans to anticipate a data loss and implement corporate rules of conduct

2. Store your work on different storage spaces

3. Train your staff on IT security procedures

4. Use a cloud storage service. Check out our report on a cloud-based SOCaaS service (with petabyte storage) that Google is about to bring to market for businesses.

In conclusion, protecting yourself from data loss means protecting your organization and its market shares from unfair competition. Such a risk should not be underestimated.