Why Data Security is a Serious Matter for Every Business By Mike Musson, ICT Cluster Manager, Advantage West Midlands
Author: Mike Musson
Last Updated: 2/10/2010 8:19:23 PM
Summary
Data is at the heart of every business, but is your company’s data secure? The implications of data loss are significant; from lost business and damage to your reputation, to fines or even prison
Article
On a basic level, most businesses would struggle to function
without access to electronic data; whether it's a contact database,
HR, accounts or payroll. Temporary data loss can be costly in terms
of operational downtime but permanent loss can be disastrous and
even stop the business from trading. Attempting to replicate lost
data is at best time-consuming and at worst impossible.
Physical data loss, of which there have been several high
profile cases in the media, can also have far reaching
consequences. The press coverage of these incidents has
raised public awareness of how lost or stolen data can be used for
crimes like identity fraud, so they can seriously damage a
company's reputation.
There are various steps that organisations can take to ensure
that data is kept secure. Nowadays, as the majority of files
are kept electronically, an IT backup plan is crucial. Technical
failure can take numerous forms: hard drive crashes; natural
disasters; human error; theft; virus attack; or power surges. There
are various options such as subscribing to an automated online
backup service where data is copied and transferred to the
provider's servers. Alternatively, companies can keep a copy
of their own files, but this needs to be done regularly, weekly if
not daily, with the duplicate storage device kept off-site.
It's also essential to install a company firewall and virus
protection on a network and individual laptops.
The growth of home and mobile working means that confidential
business data is increasingly being stored on laptops therefore
raising the risk of data being exposed to third parties. There are
a variety of ways that businesses can address this from setting
physical barriers, such as data encryption and enforcing passwords,
to establishing strict policies on the use of company
data.
The Data Protection Act means that firms have a legal
responsibility to keep personal information about their clients
confidential. Businesses also need to keep financial records
for up to seven years. Failure to meet either of these
requirements can result in legal actions.
Data backup is not always a number one priority when running a
business, especially on a limited IT budget. But with
financial figures, competitor information and customer data on your
computer system, the potential cost of data loss needs to be
addressed and managed effectively to avoid disaster.
The issue of security, as a whole, is one of the focal points of
the West Midlands ICT Cluster's strategy. As such, the
Cluster is in the process of setting up a technology group for this
area, the first meeting of which will be scheduled for early
2010.
The Author
Mike Musson has been ICT Cluster Manager
at Advantage West
Midlands since July 2006.
Previously Mike ran his own successful IT business so brings
valuable private sector experience and insight to the public sector
ICT Cluster initiative.
Mike and his team at the ICT Cluster are focused on
helping small-to-medium sized West Midlands businesses to become
more successful which in turn should help the region to become more
prosperous. The ICT Cluster runs a number of initiatives to reach
these goals including: increasing the number of businesses engaging
in innovation and undertaking R&D, assisting businesses to lock
into regional, national and EU funding programmes, accessing UKTI
support for international trade as well as running the ICT
Cluster Conference and ICT Excellence awards. The ICT Conference
attracted 420 participants last year making it the largest event of
its kind in the UK whilst the Awards have grown in prestige year on
year now recognised by the Technology Strategy Board sponsoring a
special award.
In addition, the ICT Cluster team have been instrumental in
setting up initiatives such as Accredit UK, Open Advantage, IT
Futures, West Midlands Mobile and Wireless and the UK IT
Association to encourage innovation and competitiveness among West
Midlands technology businesses.