2011 was a year filled with data loss howlers, a new report has revealed.
Despite growing awareness of the importance of backing up files, 2011 was still a year filled with data loss disasters, a newly-published report has revealed.
While businesses around the world are waking up to the fact the backing up files makes good economic sense and reduces the risk of data protection law breaches, some firms have still struggled in their efforts to keep information safe, Minneapolis-based Kroll Ontrack has reported.
Indeed, the firm’s newly-compiled list of data security goofs show that even IT experts are not averse to being complacent with their data.
Among the blunders making the top ten are the case of a scientist leaving a laptop on a desk near some rare magnets, a small mistake that required some emergency data recovery procedures to be carried out.
Meanwhile, power cuts, beer spillages and accidental fires have all caused their fair share of data protection errors over the past 12 months, the list shows, highlighting the ongoing importance of backing up files.
Notably, the report shows that it’s not just businesses that need to take proactive steps to safeguard their information, with an actor also having to enlist the help of data recovery experts after deleting her entire portfolio of work with the wrong click of a mouse.
Summing up, Kroll Ontrack manager Jeff Pederson noted: "If your data is important or valuable, it is important to go straight to a professional for the best chances for data recovery success."
This comes just days after the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in Wales revealed that eight of Wales’ 22 councils have either lost data or had data stolen from them at some point in the last three years, with the government agency claiming that local authorities are still not taking the matter of data protection seriously enough.