Thanks for taking the time to read a few words from the Top Gadgets team concerning

Personal, business, or corporate computer backup systems.

Most of us will be unaware that for safety and security reasons government agencies, banks and insurance companies conduct regular backup proceedures on computer-generated data. This is in order to protect our personal or financial data against loss due to any number of reasons a few of which are listed below:

• acts of war
• natural disaster
• acts of sabotage
• computer/server malfunction

Should any of the above occur these organisations can quickly restore services with a minimum of data loss.

Many business and government organisations go the extra protection level of making multiple copies that are kept secure by storing them in different parts of the country. The concept of keeping a current backup copy of your server, network, or computer data away from your place of business or home is a good example for us all.

Some larger, medium and small business owners fail to understand, or simply do not realise,  that they too are vulnerable to these scenarios. Were something catastrophic to happen to a business that does not conduct a regular server or a computer network data backup, that business would more than likely come to an immediate halt and be unlikely to operate until all the lost data has been re-entered manually, if it was available.

Can you imagine how long that could take? How many days, weeks, or months? Not knowing who your debtor’s are and what amount of money they owe you, or worse still who your creditors are and when your bills are due for payment. It would be fair to say that some businesses would find it difficult to recover from such a serious setback. A setback that is so simple to avoid.

This is a very real threat to the viability of your business.

As business owners or managers, we need to schedule the time to conduct a regular backup of our computer system and store this data at a secure location. It is critical that this is scheduled on a regular basis to minimise data loss to your business should a catastrophe occur.

Put your business to the test, ask yourself:

• how protected is my data should my server or network crash
• how is my information backed up if my laptop was broken, stolen or lost
• what would the delay be should a fire caused damage to my server or computer network

Many business owners by now will be thinking that maybe they are at risk and need to put some controls in place to manage this risk.

The computer user at home also faces this very realistic risk.

Having used computers for over 20 years, I can recall a number of occasions when my computer crashed unexpectedly. The loss of data was not catastrophic, but it did result in many late night sessions rewriting documents. Now as a result my computer is backed up weekly and even more frequently if required. My daughters have laptops and I constantly remind them to backup all their schoolwork, as many of these documents would be almost impossible to re-create.

You need to decide what tools you can utilize for the storage and protection of your valuable data. We at Top Gadgets use and highly recommend the IronKey Personal S200 range of 256 bit encrypted USB flash drives that can securely store up to 16GB of data. Also available from us is the IronKey Personal D200 series with a capacity of 32GB. See our website www.topgadgets.com.au for the full range of encrypted USB Drives. These USB Drives protect your and your customer’s data with a password and will prevent unauthorised access to this valuable data.

Not all companies, businesses or even individuals can backup all their data on these encrypted USB flash drives. The good news is that we also have a range of 256 bit encrypted external hard drives up to 1TB that will keep your data safe with password protection. Visit www.topgadgets.com.au for the full range of DataLocker encrypted external drives as well as all the technical information on this ideal backup drive.

By using any of the items shown here, you can be assured that your business or private data is protected with state of the art technology. This technology meets exacting standards set by the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense.

Some people may consider using a device that is Not Encrypted. This is understandable, as the non encrypted devices are cheaper than those that are encrypted. We warn against using cheaper non encrypted drives, because you become vulnerable to the misuse or manipulation of confidential data. (In the near future, we will be writing another blog on Cyber Crime involving storage devices that at not encrypted).

Thanks for visiting this blog. Please visit our website at www.topgadgets.com.au for these and many other Top Gadgets.

As always we welcome your comments, feedback and ideas. Thanks again.

Remo Krause,

Director and CEO

Top Gadgets