Recent high profile cases such as the Petya Cyber attack or the WannaCry Ransomware incident demonstrate the vulnerability of businesses and individuals alike to cyber attack.
These infections typically operate by silently infiltrating computers after users download a popular tax accounting package for example or visit a local news site, according to national police and international cyber experts. A “ransom” may be demanded, typically in a cyber currency, to restore the computer to working order again. In the meantime, the computer will be frozen and the user will be completely locked out of all their files with no access to anything saved on the computer.
It must be stated that payment of said ransom is no guarantee that files will be returned so that is why the preparation and testing of viable backups of all files is a must.
Other threats to the computing system – Malware, trojans and (to a lesser extent now) worms can attack the operating system infecting it, causing it to run slowly or potentially lose information stored on the hard drive. Stealing and misuse of data, infecting other computers or devices on the network are also real threats, but crucially, the vulnerability of the business to loss of the information stored on a hard drive of a computer is where a business can run foul of not only the continued operation of the business but also the law.
A computer like any other electrical device, is vulnerable to damage. Lightning damage, power surges, age, unexpected external factors such as flooding, all can irreparably destroy a computer and all the information stored on it may be lost.
The loss of years worth of storing of information is devastating for an individual but for a business may be an irrecoverable circumstance.
Names and contact information of clients, invoices and product information, accounting software and saved accounts, highly confidential information, current business details, policies, procedures, backdated tax details. The information that is saved on a business computer is central to the running of the business and the loss or compromise of that information is unthinkable.
And this is why it is crucial to backup the information stored on the computer to the cloud. The simplest way to do that is to use a Google drive account which can be accessed by setting up a gmail account.
Create a GMail account (This will pop a new tab where you can sign up for an account)
A gmail account has a convenient feature called Google Drive which is a free 15GB cloud storage facility, but more storage space can be purchased.
Google Drive Web login (after having created the account using above link)
You can check out the features of Drive here
Computers: Link to the relevant application for your computer, follow the prompts to install.
Smartphone / Tablet
A document, spreadsheet or presentation can be created and stored on Google Drive or existing material can be backed up for extra security. This can then be accessed remotely too from any device with internet access.
See the Google Drive web login link above
With cloud storage backup, even if there is a complete systems failure and the hard drive is irrevocably lost, the saved information can be easily retrieved and transferred to a new device with no loss of service. The business can continue to operate from remote devices during the transfer of information and no inconvenience is caused by the averted disaster.
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