Why Is Data Security So Often Overlooked?

Technology is everywhere. It forms the basis of our daily lives, from communicating with loved ones to documenting your work in the office. Many businesses that were once stalwarts of the British high street have closed down, simply trading online instead and this shows the power of technology in the modern world.

Technology is everywhere. It forms the basis of our daily lives, from communicating with loved ones to documenting your work in the office. Many businesses that were once stalwarts of the British high street have closed down, simply trading online instead and this shows the power of technology in the modern world.

We purchase our weekly groceries, carry out bank transfers and store images on the internet. It's therefore unsurprising that so much of our personal information can now be found online and the need for data security has never been clearer. This has recently been highlighted by the alleged ease at which hackers recently stole explicit private images and videos of A-list celebrities and distributed them online.

How to secure your data

You probably think your data is secure with a supposedly 'high-strength' password protecting your information. Simple email scams such as phishing can soon gain access to your passwords so higher level actions must be taken to ensure you don't become a victim of these opportunist criminals.

A regular mistake people make is to use the same password for everything. Although this means you won't have to remember them, you are increasing both the likelihood of you being a victim and the breadth of information a hacker would have access to.

Utilising two-factor authentication can help to strengthen your data security, with codes being sent to a secondary device before you're able to log-in, all but removing the threat of hackers gaining access to your private files without the other device.

Data centres lead by example

Although consumers may not realise it, we all have information stored in high security data centres and it is taken for granted that this information is safe. Huge companies such as Apple and Amazon rely on data centres not only to store our information, but also to ensure their services are running at 100 per cent at all times. It's therefore vital that data centres are as secure as is physically possible.

Of course, this security is on a much larger scale than password protection; these centres are not only hack-proof but also secured against terrorism, power outages, overheating and connectivity. For example, many professional data centres are moving away from swipe card which can be stolen or misplaced and using finger-print recognition. Although this isn't completely impenetrable, spoofing fingerprint access control is almost impossible and shows exactly how seriously security is taken, and rightly so. Businesses that lose their data are unlikely to survive in today's data rich, data critical world; custom would be lost and their brand reputation would be tarnished to an almost unsalvageable degree.

Data security should not be overlooked at any level and as technology continues to evolve, your data will become increasingly at risk if consumers or businesses fail to take action to ensure it's as secure as feasibly possible.

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