One of my college classes was on data security. I just performed a quick Google and found the results to be wanting so I'll try to write from memory.
Data security is much more than an occasional backup because your hard drive may crash. Here are some of the main "threats" to your data:
- Hardware failure -- Hard drive internal failure for a variety of reasons -- Hard drive damaged by electrical spikes, power supply failure, or other circuit problems
- Software failure -- Software becoming corrupt due to internal or external problems -- External software deleting or corrupting the data on the hard drive
- Intentional software threats -- Viruses, trojan horses, and etcetera can damage your hard drive (i.e. cause a head crash) or corrupt your data -- Worms and other software that steal your data
- Inadvertant actions -- Authorized user (you) accidentally deleting or changing your data so that it cannot be recovered properly -- Unauthorized user (kids, pets, visitors) pressing keyboard keys that damage or delete your data -- Inexperienced technician causing damage
- Physical threats -- Computer falls due to earthquake, bumping, pets, and etc. -- Something being dropped on the computer -- Flooding due to pipes bursting, fire suppression systems, etc -- Fire -- Even some types of dust (typically industrial) can get in and short circuits or cause overheating of components -- War or other violent acts
- Theft -- Data theft by software entering through the internet and extracting data which can then be used to steal your identity, blackmail you, or at least cause you emberassment -- Data theft by someone entering your home, uninvited or invited (nephew, handyman, etc) and copying your data -- Someone stealing your hard drive or complete computer -- If they steal your computer they're likely to also take all of your locally stored backup disks and, possibly, paper copies
Here are some of the repercussions:
- Loss of use of data for personal use (i.e. lose all you digital photos) - Loss of income if you need that data for your business - Law suits if you are legally required to maintain files such as wedding photos or legal documents - Loss of supporting evidence if you keep household, personal, or business records on your computer - Identity theft - Cost of replacing hardware and software - Mental anquish
Everyone should consider carefully their personal situation, the possible threats, and the possible repercussions of losing their data. Everyone's actions will be different There is no one approach that covers even a small group of people such as this photo club.
- For the person who only takes photos for their personal enjoyment and keeps no sensitive data on their computer they may be willing to lose those photos rather than perform regular backups.
- For the person who runs a photography business in a bad part of town and living on the San Andreas Fault they may want to have multiple backups stored at distant locations, expensive security systems, and multiple firewalls.
- Most everyone else should consider some combination of preventing inadvertent damage and theft as well as some periodic backups to either external hard drives or disks kept in a separate room or building.
If I've left anything out then please feel free to add to this list, it's been over 20 years since I studied this subject.
P.S. When I worked in an office and we got our first computer (27 years ago) the technician told me a story of a worker who was doing the daily backup by replacing the hard drive stack (these were six 12-inch diameter disks) with a fresh one. When power was applied the heads crashed and destroyed the data on the disks. No problem, the weekly backup disk was in the same room so the worker just stuck that stack in. Again the heads crashed and the data was lost. No problem, the monthly backup stack was also in the room... Yes, an entire month's worth of data had to be re-typed in from paper copies (back when people kept those). If you're really serious about doing backups, you should keep those backups in another room or, better yet, another building, in a fire-resistant safe.
One of my college classes was on data security. I just performed a quick Google and found the results to be wanting so I'll try to write from memory.
Data security is much more than an occasional backup because your hard drive may crash. Here are some of the main "threats" to your data:
- Hardware failure
-- Hard drive internal failure for a variety of reasons
-- Hard drive damaged by electrical spikes, power supply failure, or other circuit problems
- Software failure
-- Software becoming corrupt due to internal or external problems
-- External software deleting or corrupting the data on the hard drive
- Intentional software threats
-- Viruses, trojan horses, and etcetera can damage your hard drive (i.e. cause a head crash) or corrupt your data
-- Worms and other software that steal your data
- Inadvertant actions
-- Authorized user (you) accidentally deleting or changing your data so that it cannot be recovered properly
-- Unauthorized user (kids, pets, visitors) pressing keyboard keys that damage or delete your data
-- Inexperienced technician causing damage
- Physical threats
-- Computer falls due to earthquake, bumping, pets, and etc.
-- Something being dropped on the computer
-- Flooding due to pipes bursting, fire suppression systems, etc
-- Fire
-- Even some types of dust (typically industrial) can get in and short circuits or cause overheating of components
-- War or other violent acts
- Theft
-- Data theft by software entering through the internet and extracting data which can then be used to steal your identity, blackmail you, or at least cause you emberassment
-- Data theft by someone entering your home, uninvited or invited (nephew, handyman, etc) and copying your data
-- Someone stealing your hard drive or complete computer
-- If they steal your computer they're likely to also take all of your locally stored backup disks and, possibly, paper copies
Here are some of the repercussions:
- Loss of use of data for personal use (i.e. lose all you digital photos)
- Loss of income if you need that data for your business
- Law suits if you are legally required to maintain files such as wedding photos or legal documents
- Loss of supporting evidence if you keep household, personal, or business records on your computer
- Identity theft
- Cost of replacing hardware and software
- Mental anquish
Everyone should consider carefully their personal situation, the possible threats, and the possible repercussions of losing their data. Everyone's actions will be different There is no one approach that covers even a small group of people such as this photo club.
- For the person who only takes photos for their personal enjoyment and keeps no sensitive data on their computer they may be willing to lose those photos rather than perform regular backups.
- For the person who runs a photography business in a bad part of town and living on the San Andreas Fault they may want to have multiple backups stored at distant locations, expensive security systems, and multiple firewalls.
- Most everyone else should consider some combination of preventing inadvertent damage and theft as well as some periodic backups to either external hard drives or disks kept in a separate room or building.
If I've left anything out then please feel free to add to this list, it's been over 20 years since I studied this subject.
P.S. When I worked in an office and we got our first computer (27 years ago) the technician told me a story of a worker who was doing the daily backup by replacing the hard drive stack (these were six 12-inch diameter disks) with a fresh one. When power was applied the heads crashed and destroyed the data on the disks. No problem, the weekly backup disk was in the same room so the worker just stuck that stack in. Again the heads crashed and the data was lost. No problem, the monthly backup stack was also in the room... Yes, an entire month's worth of data had to be re-typed in from paper copies (back when people kept those). If you're really serious about doing backups, you should keep those backups in another room or, better yet, another building, in a fire-resistant safe.