Where Does Deleted Data Go?
Have you deleted a file and immediately regretted it? Well that may be easy enough to get the file back. What if your intention was to make that file disappear for good? Then you have to understand that the way many operating systems handle the deletion of files may present problems for you.
Depending how you went about deleting the file in question, they may not be deleted at all; and, if they hold sensitive information, they will still be accessible by hackers looking to profit off of your negligence. Below we’ll outline what happens when you delete a file to give you an idea what exactly the process is to get rid of data. That kind of awareness is critical for you to protect your data, and your company’s data.
Deleting a PC File
On your standard PC, running some form of Windows, when you delete a file it is moved to your Recycle Bin. You may think that the files are gone, but that isn’t the case at all. The location of the file is changed, that’s all. If you access the file path inside the Recycle Bin, you can still open it and restore it. You can’t even get a file to open if you delete it out of the Recycle Bin. Doing so eliminates the file path and is labeled “free”, but the file itself is not overwritten.
This data won’t be gone in perpetuity until it is overwritten by another file, which is rather unlikely if you are using massive storage facilities for smaller files. Since you never really want to be that close to maxing out your available data storage, overwriting deleted file data happens less than a computer’s user would like.
Cloud Storage Considerations
If you are using a cloud storage facility like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive and you want to delete a file, the provider typically keeps this information for a couple of days after the initial deletion, just in case a user made a mistake. After that, however, consumer-grade cloud services customer probably won’t have much luck retrieving any data they had deleted.
Business cloud storage solutions are another story altogether. If your business is a customer of any notable cloud provider, it’s likely to come with redundancy built in. This is a strategy to protect businesses from human error.
Catalyst Technology Group can help your business equip itself with a data storage structure that keeps your data under control. For more information contact us today at (317) 705-0333.
Do You Need Data Backup? The Answer: Absolutely
Data backup is something of a conundrum for many small businesses. The classic mindset is that they don’t think they need data backup because there’s no way they’ll be struck with a data loss disaster. Their office may not be located in a place prone to natural disasters, and the organization is so small that the assume they are off the hook when it comes to hackers. This doesn’t reduce the value that a good data backup system can offer, though.
Having a “it won’t happen to me” mentality will only make it hurt even more in the event that your business does suffer data loss. Many problems can result in data loss; hardware failures, end-user errors, surges and lightning, fires, and floods, can all leave you stranded. Here are three indicators that you know you need a proper data backup system.
You Regularly Use Contact Information and Other Data
Data that’s crucial for operations is of the utmost importance for your business. If you happen to lose it due to a disaster or a user error, you’re out of luck if you don’t have some sort of data backup system implemented. If your line of work depends on this data, you need to do everything in your power to protect it from any circumstances that could lead to its destruction or loss.
You Need to Access Historical Files and/or Records
Depending on your industry and the regulations that come with it, you might be required to keep a backup of your data. There may be other requirements as well, such as keeping your data off site or encrypted.
Your Employees Need It
Nobody is perfect. Even your most seasoned sales person might accidentally save over the only copy of your sales proposal template. Being able to quickly pull a single file or folder from a backup will save a lot of time and frustration. It’s also important to have a backup for your business if you want to ensure your employees’ retention. 60 percent of businesses that suffer a major data loss event file for bankruptcy within 6 months.
You Frequently Experience IT Troubles
If your technology isn’t the most reliable equipment out there, you should consider implementing a full data backup and disaster recovery solution. Hardware failure is a common reason why organizations lose data, simply because it seems to come out of nowhere. There are warning signs, though, if you know where to look. If your hardware starts to make strange noises, experiences operational inefficiencies, and is generally more trouble than it’s worth, data backup is critical.
You Don’t Have One At All!
To not be using some type of backup system is, in a word, risky. Ultimately, having a data backup and disaster recovery solution is a great preventative measure to take advantage of in a perilous and unpredictable technology field. Even something as simple as an onsite backup solution is better than not having one at all. However, you’ll want only the best solution for your business’s needs, so we recommend taking full advantage of our cloud-based Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution.
Could your business use a hand with implementing data backup and disaster recovery? If so, reach out to Catalyst Technology Group at (317) 705-0333.
Best Practices for Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
Have you considered the process in which your organization takes data backups and restores them following an emergency? The value of data backup and fast recovery can’t be ignored. Unless you take proper precautions, you could potentially face a situation that threatens the very existence of your business.
To emphasize the importance disaster recovery, consider this example. If your office were to catch fire due to an electrical problem, your legacy could erupt in flames alongside it. Even if you evacuate the building and save your employees, your technology will suffer and burn with the building. Some networking components might survive, but you’ll be lucky if anything can be salvaged from an event like this. This is why every business needs a data backup system in place.
Natural disasters, like floods, hurricanes, and thunderstorms can all cause problems for you as well. Therefore, you need to take care with how you manage your technology and your data. Even the slightest mistake could lead to large amounts of data loss. Therefore, the question of whether you will suffer from some sort of disaster isn’t if it will happen, but when it will happen. You need to take measures now to avoid suffering from disasters in the future.
Many organizations that have considered data backup and disaster recovery may not have the most optimal solutions implemented. If anything, they will have magnetic tape backup, which has long been considered the industry standard. Unfortunately, the many flaws prevalent in tape backup make it unappealing for SMBs. Since they are so resource-intensive, they must be performed after hours, and only one backup can be taken during the workday. This means that you could lose up to 24 hours worth of data in the event of a disaster–not exactly the ideal way to manage disaster recovery.
Plus, since some organizations will keep their tape backups located on-site or on their in-house infrastructure for convenience, a fire could simply destroy them along with the rest of your assets. A hacking attack could also target any digital backup files stored on your infrastructure, placing them at risk of corruption or theft. Naturally, the best way to handle data backup storage is to store them offsite, but this can complicate the actual disaster recovery process. What is the ideal way to store data while also allowing for great recovery time?
One way to solve these issues is to reach out to Catalyst Technology Group and ask us about our cloud-based backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution. Since BDR takes smaller backups as often as every 15 minutes, your data loss is significantly reduced, if not mitigated completely. BDR only takes backups of files that have changed since the last time a backup was taken, ensuring redundancy without causing trouble for operations. The possibility of user error is also eliminated, as the backups happen automatically rather than manually. Your data will then be sent to a secure offsite data center for storage until the day you will inevitably need it. The data is then recovered via an Internet connection directly to the BDR device until you’ve found a replacement server unit to fulfill the role. It’s just one way that enterprise-level technology can help your SMB thrive.
To learn more about data backup and recovery, reach out to us at (317) 705-0333.
Keep Your Best Employee From Becoming Your Worst Problem With Data Management
Chances are that you, like most business owners, have assembled your staff very carefully, looking for people who are the best-in-class, willing to work their hardest for the good of the company. However, this staff will be made up of humans, and will therefore make mistakes. As such, you need to make sure that your data is managed in a way that keeps it safe.
Are you confident that you know where your company’s data is currently stored?
Unfortunately, if you are relying on your eager, diligent staff to allow you to answer “yes” to that question, then you may be answering incorrectly for the right reasons.
The thing about diligent employees is that, well, they’re diligent. They want to get the task at hand done to the best of their ability and as quickly as possible–and if that means they have to work from home, then that’s what they’re going to want to do. Which wouldn’t be a problem, if their home networks were nearly as secure as the ones you have in place at your business.
What’s to be done? You don’t want to discourage your more diligent employees, but you also want to make sure your data is safe.
The easy answer is to meet employees like these halfway. Give them access to a Virtual Private Network to help maximize their security as they access your data remotely. Ask them to have their personal devices checked by IT before they use them to access the network. Ask them if they’re willing to allow IT to remotely wipe their personal device if it should be lost or compromised as a precaution, if they were to be able to use it for work. An established Bring Your Own Device policy will make enforcing this requirement a little easier.
Of course, this does not mean that you should give all employees carte blanche access to all of your data. Network access control solutions are an effective way to restrict your employees from accessing data that is above their pay grade, either intentionally or by accident. Requiring authentication has become the norm in most of society, and so your loyal employees are unlikely to have a problem with it in the workplace. Passwords, PIN access, and other identification factors will prove useful in keeping employees where they are supposed to be, and able to access what they need for their job requirements.
The reason that it is so important to allow your employees to work as they wish is because it will allow them to be productive, without resorting to their own methods outside of company control, which are far less secure than what you have implemented.
For help implementing these features into your IT infrastructure, make sure you give Catalyst Technology Group a call. We have the solutions you need to safely allow your enthusiastic employees to work the way they work best. Give us a call at (317) 705-0333 today.
Take Advantage of Big Data to One-Up the Competition
Your business’s IT strategy is of incredible importance, especially when you consider how much your operations stand to benefit from a functional infrastructure. More than anything, though, IT can ensure that your business remains competitive in a world where the slightest advantage can mean all the difference.
With big data on the rise, let’s take a look at how it can help your business stand out amongst the crowd.
Big Data Changes the Rules
Big data is capable of affecting an industry on a large scale. Let’s say that one business starts to look at the way in which data trends affect the way that they approach their services and business model. They will start to see ways in which they can improve the way they do business. In turn, more and more businesses will look toward implementing big data, which makes it a new industry standard, completely changing the way that the industry operates.
Big Data Allows Businesses to Outperform Rivals
Being “in-the-know” is of the utmost importance in the business world, and the more data that you collect, the more information you have at your disposal. It’s as simple as this; big data allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage against their rivals. Being able to strategically look at statistics and analytics helps businesses to make better, more educated decisions about how to move forward.
Big Data Can Outright Create New Businesses
Big data has the opportunity to change business models so drastically that some organizations may split themselves up to create new business opportunities. Alternatively, businesses may create new departments within their organizations that focus on the analysis of this data. These departments can then deploy the data for a number of functions, including improving operations as a whole internally, or looking at external factors that could bring in more revenue, such as consumer behavior patterns.
Does your business leverage big data to its advantage? It could be just the thing you need to get a leg up on the competition. Catalyst Technology Group can consult you on how best to take advantage of data collection and delegation within your business and consumer base. To learn more, reach out to us at (317) 705-0333.
The Fallout From Data Loss Isn’t Pretty
Data loss: it’s not a fun term for any business to hear. However, when one considers all of the ramifications that data loss can have upon a business, it swiftly transitions from “not fun” to “alarming.” Have you taken the time to think about what losing your business’ data would really mean for your company?
Downtime
There’s a reason that ‘downtime’ is considered a dirty word in an IT professional’s vocabulary. A loss of productivity is quite literally the opposite of what a company’s IT solutions should deliver. However, if a data loss incident were to occur without any mitigating measures in place, downtime is essentially guaranteed–along with all the negative consequences that it brings along with it.
These consequences include the financial impact that downtime will have on your business directly. After all, your business will not be able to generate revenue throughout the downtime incident, which means that the total amount you would have otherwise earned can be considered a cost. Combine that with the financial amount it takes to return to operations, as well as the potential business that has now been lost due to the downtime incident, and the sum total quickly becomes considerable.
Data Leakage
Of course, when considering data loss, the “why” needs to be established. If the answer involves your data storage being compromised by an outside party, you need to consider what data was lost. If it just so happens that personnel records were breached, exposing your employees’ personally identifiable information, or your customers’ financial data, you will almost certainly have some major problems on your hands.
Destroyed Reputation
Look at it this way: would you trust a company that had allowed your personal data to be stolen, putting your livelihood and good name at risk? In fact, would you trust a company that had allowed anyone’s personal data to be stolen? Probably not, and guess what? Your potential clients and customers feel the same way.
Whether they’re an existing client whose data was breached, or a prospect who heard about your issues with data security, there’s a good chance that they will lose any faith in your ability to protect their information. Therefore, existing clients will jump ship, and prospects will quickly turn to other options. Perhaps worse, those who were affected by your data loss will likely vent online, preventing many from ever approaching your business afterwards. While there are ways to mend fences with these clients, they are all expensive.
Clearly, data loss is something that no business is truly prepared to experience, which is why we’re here to help prevent it. To learn more about how Catalyst Technology Group can help protect your company’s data, give us a call at (317) 705-0333.
You Can Save Money By Hosting Data in the Cloud (Depending How You Do It)
Cloud computing is taking the business world by storm. Despite this, not every organization has made the switch. While every company that hasn’t yet migrated to the cloud has their reasons, one big reason often tops the list: the perceived lack of cost savings. Thanks to a new study, this perception is now proven to be inaccurate.
The study was performed by John Burke, analyst and CIO of Nemertes Research. In it, he looked at real-world scenarios of enterprises hosting their workloads in-house vs in the cloud. Though his findings have yet to be finalized, he collected enough information to provide InformationWeek with a formula that businesses can use as an indicator of predictable cost savings to be found in the cloud. The formula is as follows: “With an IT staff person as the unit of cost, the enterprise data center workload costs $ 23 per IT staffer compared to $ 18 of IT staff expense for a workload in the cloud.”
Suffice to say, the computing needs of every organization are unique, so this formula may not apply exactly to your own business model. We should also note how past attempts to get a lockdown on a predictable cost savings formula for cloud computing have been difficult. This is due in part to the pricing models varying between cloud providers, especially when it comes to the different combination of resources utilized by SMBs.
Despite such variations, Burke has confidence in his preliminary findings. Delving further into the study, Burke found that the greatest cost savings come from workloads requiring more scalability due to extremes in traffic. Compared to workloads that are more predictable, Burke says that these models “may or may not be less expensive to run in the cloud.”
For companies looking to maximize the savings found in the cloud, Burke has some advice. “Don’t expect to save money with the cloud unless you’re willing to change what you’re doing with the cloud – re-architect applications or develop cloud-native ones.” To put it plainly, organizations willing to refactor or re-engineer their workload have the most to gain by migrating to the cloud. An example of such a move is using a cloud database service instead of setting up a database virtual server to run the service continuously.
Therefore, business owners looking to find significant savings by migrating to the cloud need to tailor their expectations accordingly. Simply migrating a workload to the cloud in an effort to duplicate its operational characteristics, though beneficial in many ways, won’t yield your budget much in the way of cost savings. To take full advantage of how the cloud can save your business money, you’re going to want to work with an IT professional to find ways to re-engineer the workloads of your current operations. This will take extra time and resources for the technician to familiarize themselves with your company’s IT system so they can enact the changes needed. Although, seeing as such changes will result in improved efficiency and cost savings, it’s a move that’s well worth the expense.
Are you looking to get the maximum savings from your company’s cloud computing solutions? Call Catalyst Technology Group today at (317) 705-0333 to find out how.