March 16

Filing cabinets and safety deposit boxes are old-school. In this technological age, our personal, most valuable information is secured somewhere in the digital universe. It might be saved on an external hard drive or on an internal server. It might live in the Cloud, in an encrypted file, or in a Dropbox folder. Wherever your data is located, there’s no way to be sure it’s 100% safe or secure.

Disaster is inevitable. Sometimes it’s a fender bender or a stolen credit card. Other times, it’s a Big Data disaster.

Big Data Loss? Big Problem

What is Big Data?

Big Data is a recent ‘hot topic’ in the tech world. It is:

“A term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates a business on a day-to-day basis. But it’s not the amount of data that’s important. It’s what organizations do with the data that matters. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves.”

The second part of this definition is the critical piece; it’s not the amount of data, but what can be done with the data. Such data is especially valuable to businesses because it determines what the priorities and strategies of that business should be.
Information is valuable, sometimes even more valuable than material goods or currency. This digital information, or data, can have serious implications for your business if stolen or lost.

Who uses Big Data?

Nearly every industry – banking, education, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail; public and private—has embraced Big Data and what it can do for their organization.

What happens when Big Data is compromised?

Data breaches aren’t uncommon. Fortunately, cybersecurity measures are developing quickly and contingency plans are becoming exponentially better. Unfortunately, there are hackers and cybercriminals who steal information in the same way that thieves might steal money or cars or jewelry. However, data breaches are not the biggest causes of data loss.

Some of the biggest causes of data loss are:

  1. Human error
  2. Hardware failure

Other causes of data loss include: software corruption, computer viruses/malware, and (believe it or not) natural disasters.

Due to the massive volume of information that characterizes Big Data, a loss in any part of big data storage can be catastrophic for businesses, large and small. Losing crucial parts of the intelligence data in hardware failures or deletions can threaten business operations that center on having it available.

How is this relevant to CBL Data Recovery?

Every day, CBL uses its industry leading technologies, coupled with ongoing research and development, to offer the fastest and most efficient ways to retrieve lost information and be a leader in top-tier provider of data recovery services.

How can I prevent or remedy a Big Data loss?

If you don’t pre-apply sunscreen, you will get sunburned and the same applies to your data. In the event of data loss, the most important thing is to have a contingency plan already in place. Of course, small banks will have a different plan in place and different security measures than a huge software company. Your contingency plan should be a Big Data-specific one that addresses what is important to maintaining business continuity when data is lost.

Even if you plan and protect and secure your data, things can still happen. That’s why it’s important to recognize which pieces of data are the most important ones. One contributor to Data-informed.com (@Data_Informed) calls it “The 80/20 Rule”. Locate, prioritize, and insure those bits (or bytes) of data.

Additionally, storing your Big Data in multiple places and backing it up with Cloud technology are great preventative measures. Make sure you know how quickly the information needs to be accessed; different storage options have varied recovery times. Minor data should be stored on slower media devices, while “mission-critical” data should be stored where it can be quickly accessed.

And if all else fails?

CBL Data Recovery will still be here to save the day…and your data, however big or small.

Read more about CBL’s data recovery processes to retrieve lost info from failures.

Category: data loss prevention, data recovery

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