Types of Data that Need to be Backed Up and Secured At All Costs

A data loss incident is every business' worst nightmare; if you’re caught unawares, such an incident can set you back financially and operationally for months. Listed below are some of the common data your business most likely collects that you absolutely need to have backed up. If you don’t, you could become subject to serious fines due to regulations and other industry-specific mandates.

Internal Financial Records and Tax Forms

Making money with your business is the fun part, but reporting on that money is the not-so-fun part.

A responsible business maintains immutable financial records that it can use to monitor profits and expenses, including payroll, hardware and software purchases, operational costs, so on and so forth. Naturally, filing your taxes becomes a lot harder, if not impossible, if you don’t have this information on file. The government’s not going to appreciate you telling them you got hit by a cyberattack and you couldn’t recover your ledgers.

Do yourself a favor and ensure your financial records are backed up and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

Employee Financial Information, Personal Data, and Health Insurance Information

Human resources and payroll are able to ensure everyone gets paid because they have your employees’ data on file… so what happens when that data is lost or stolen?

In order to get on payroll, chances are you’ve collected a lot of employee data that is personal and sensitive in nature: dates of birth, Social Security numbers, bank routing information, and so much more. Hackers find this information to be a goldmine, as even if they don’t act on any of it, they can sell it on the black market to make a boatload of cash. It’s one of the most targeted and sought-after types of data stored by businesses, and scammers will pay a premium for it.

Make sure this data is stored securely and backed up in a system that is compliant with regulations.

Client Contact Information, Sales Records, and Financial Information

Finally, you have your customers and their data, which should absolutely be backed up and stored securely in the event of a disaster.

Let’s say your business loses even a fraction of its client data due to a hardware failure or a hacking attack. You’ll lose track of services and payments, current clients and potential leads, and client financial information you have on record, such as credit cards. Worse yet, if you lose track of their contact information, you’ll have a difficult time getting in touch with them again—and you’ll look silly explaining why you’re calling to get updated contact information, in any case.

Remember, financial information is also protected and governed by regulations such as PCI, so do your part to ensure your customers’ information is secure and backed up, or face the consequences.

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg—we didn’t even touch on vendor contact information, stakeholder information, or intellectual property. Imagine if you produce a software solution, then lose the source code.

Macro Systems can help you guarantee that all important data on your infrastructure is backed up and securely stored for when you need it most. To learn more, call us today at 703-359-9211.