Smaller sized businesses at risk of losing company data

A recent survey has revealed worrying data showing that many UK smaller sized businesses are simply not doing enough to protect their company data.

Beaming’s survey of business leaders, undertaken by the research company Opinium, confirms that almost a million firms don’t back up their important data.

A further 2.8 million who do back up are also putting themselves at risk because of the fact that they store electronic copies in the same location as the original data – there are currently 44% of small businesses, 42% medium and 34% of large firms who are vulnerable to data loss via theft due to storing information in this way.

Just 35% do create back ups outside of the office, with 15% of sole traders and 13% of small businesses choosing cloud storage services, such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon, to do so.

Sonia Blizzard, Beaming managing director, commented, “Our research shows that almost four million UK businesses are vulnerable to data loss from single events and could potentially become unable to operate.

“Most businesses, particularly at the smaller end, don’t do enough to safeguard their information.

“The introduction of GDPR has highlighted the need for secure and resilient data storage in order to mitigate the risk of significant data loss.

“We’d encourage businesses to think seriously about private cloud or co-location services when it comes to storing highly sensitive data or mission-critical applications. These should only be accessed through the most secure forms of connectivity.”

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.