Effects of Data Loss on Business
Data loss is a major disruption to business that results in reduced productivity. When important data is lost, your business must spend time and resources recovering or recreating these files. Cybercriminals and malicious viruses steal your data and other personal information. When you have a security breach, it damages your organization’s reputation. Your organization must disclose the security breach and stolen data to your clients. The consequences of a security breach with data loss is huge – it impacts your reputation and your clients lose trust in your business. According to Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC), 77% of small firms go out of business within a year of a large data loss incident.

Causes of Data Loss
According to Varonis, 24% of data breaches are caused by human error. Without realizing it, employees can accidentally delete information that is essential for your business. Make sure your data is automatically backed up. Train your staff on how to use the software your company has. Implementing an optimized workflow will leave little opportunity for human error to occur.
Hardware failure, viruses and malware and software corruption are the top causes of data loss. Power outages, floods, fires or other disasters also cause data loss. The good news is that with powerful antivirus software, technology and training your staff on phishing scams, malware, ransomware and other cyber threats, you can minimize data loss.
Viruses, Malware and Ransomware
While most data breaches are traced back to hacking or malware attacks, there are other types of breach including loss or theft of a hard drive, insider leaks or credit card payment fraud. Phishing scams are one of the most common ways that hackers gain access to your data. Phishing emails seem to be from a legitimate company that requests that you click on a link or download an infected attachment. Always check out the URL to be sure that it is a reputable company and watch out for spelling and grammatical errors in the message.

Malware can infiltrate your computer when you are downloading an infected file or if you are on a hacked website. Ensure that your company has anti-malware software. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts your files. The cyber attacker then demands a ransom from the victim to restore access to the data upon payment. Governments and hospitals have been targeted by cybercriminals and have had the highest data breach costs.
A few tips on how to prevent ransomware from infecting your system – make sure your operating system is up to date and has patch management. Ensure that you have a powerful antivirus software that includes ransomware and back up your files automatically.
Summary
The increase in cyber-attacks have created fear in business owners, small and large. All organizations, specifically businesses working with confidential data are obligated to meet certain privacy and security requirements. Managed Services providers have a combination of multiple layers of virus protecting including ransomware, automatic remote or onsite back up, remote monitoring and management and proactive maintenance on your network. With managed I.T. services, you can transfer the burden of compliance to your MSP and have confidence in your system.
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