The complex data backup and protection landscape today presents a seemingly never-ending challenge for IT managers as they struggle to operate amidst increasingly stringent compliance requirements and changing technologies. Organisations who fail to properly protect an individual’s data find themselves in a spiral of loss of trust, customers and revenue. Target, which suffered a terrible data breach at the end of 2013, reported a 46% loss in fourth quarter profits and following this news, Target’s CIO announced her resignation after 5 years at the company.
Even with ever-improving technology, data protection and information management is getting harder, not easier. The amount of data needing to be stored and managed is increasing, compliance and regulatory bodies are getting stricter, the variety of ways in which you can backup, each with all their own quirks, is mind boggling and all this has to be coped with alongside decreasing public sector budgets. Unfortunately for some, “Ignorance is no excuse,” said David Smith, the ICO’s Deputy Commissioner and Director of Data Protection in response to Britain’s biggest abortion clinic, BPAS, facing a fine of £200,000. Charity BPAS failed to protect women’s personal data, including names and contact details, by storing the information in a vulnerable format on their website, claiming “they did not realise” records were being stored nor that they were accessible.
The fear of data breaches is perhaps more pressing in the public sector due to the industry’s requirement to protect vulnerable individuals’ data. Due to developments such as the Snowden revelations, consumers are more aware than ever of the value of their personal information and the importance of protecting it. Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, described it perfectly at last week’s annual Data Protection Practitioner Conference saying, “In a digital age, knowledge is invaluable and shows why the Act is so important. We must all get it right, or suffer the consequences.”
Redstor is a market leader in providing security, storage and disaster recovery services to the public and private sector. Our range of secure and encrypted cloud services are already protecting the data of over 10,000 organisations across the UK. Redstor’s Online Backup service ensures data is safely backed up offsite in an encrypted format. Our cloud sync and share service, Centrastor, enables organisations to store and share files securely online from any device with an Internet connection and our CentraStage service enables support providers to guarantee that devices they support are regularly audited, patched and safely up-to-date for effective endpoint management. Our Virtual Disaster Recovery service guarantees to have your systems up and running within minutes following a disaster. To find out more about our services and how we can help you comply with data protection laws and prevent data leakage, please contact us either by giving us a ring on 01189 515 200 or emailing [email protected].
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