| There are two primary ways of
protecting your data; its security and its integrity.
Data Security
We all work with data in one form or another. This website is an example of data
that is publicly accessible, however, most data is not. In an increasingly interconnected
World our data becomes vulnerable to to theft, corruption and destruction.
There are various levels of securing your data, from your desktop
PC or Notebook to the perimeter of your Network where it meets the Internet. Threats
come in various forms from hackers to viruses.
These days, protecting ourselves from threats has become a de-facto. "Letting
your guard down" for just a few minutes can have devastating effects on your
IT environment.
On Networks, it is of utmost importance to guard the perimeter
through the use of appropriate Firewalls and securing Servers to prevent them
from being "taken over" by outside forces. We need to be constantly
aware of new threats and how to manage them through AntiVirus Software and Operating
System updates and patches.
Not all threats come from the outside. Internal theft and tampering
can also take place by employees. Assigning and maintaining the appropriate levels
of security on files and folders is just as important as non-disclosure agreements
and Email and Internet usage policies.
Computer Sense can provide you with the correct solutions for protecting
your data at any level and ensure that the protection is maintained.
Data Integrity
Data loss is probably the worst of disasters that can occur in IT. It can have
disastrous impacts on individuals and whole IT infrastructures alike.
The integrity of your data can be maintained in multitudes of ways
but the primary and most import method is to "backup".
Data can be backed up to multitudes of different devices. The device you choose
will depict the amount of data, the frequency in which you back it up (thus the
speed) and the accuracy. Tape backups are always preferred by IT professionals,
for good reason. Their cost, capacity, speed and accuracy combination are unrivalled
by any other method. However, there are alternatives that are better like the
Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions preferred by enterprise-sized Networks.
Irrespective of whether you are backing up your "My Documents"
folder to a pen-drive or backing up entire Servers to a SAN, the backup is only
as good as its accuracy. How do you know that it is accurate? Periodic testing
of backed up data is an essential part of and just as important as the backup
itself.
In Network environments where data availability must be maintained
it is essential that high-availability equipment is used to ensure that productivity
is not impeded by a component failure. Using multiple storage devices (Hard Disk
Drives) in formation can help maintain a system's uptime considerably by compensating
for disk drive failures. Other devices can assist as well including redundant
power supply units or uninterruptible power units to protect against power outages
and lightning.
What would happen in the event of a fire, flood or lightning strike
that may totally destroy your company's Servers? Would you be able to restore
the data and how long would it take to get another Server back up and running
to ensure minimum downtime?
How important is your data to you?
We can provide you with the correct data-integrity solution to meet your needs.
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