How Media Storage Services Can Protect Against Cyber Attacks

It’s almost expected today that businesses turn to electronic data storage options to protect their company data. But the popular belief that the Cloud is the safest place to store sensitive information does not always hold true. In fact, more orthodox media storage services can sometimes offer the optimum protection.

In the age of the internet, where high-tech security software is available, locking away documents, images and video footage into a virtual safe might seem logical. But there is no denying that the risk of cyber security attacks remains a real threat.

Lack of diligence has resulted in employees making mistakes, unintentionally sharing sensitive materials with the outside world (especially through emails), while acute diligence has resulted in hacks finding a way around even the best security software, and accessing industrially or commercially sensitive data and personal customer details.

Sometimes information is so important that the traditional lock and key security method is a more effective option than electronic data storage in the Cloud, with media storage services offering critical data a place in a secure vault.

Continuing Cyber Security Threats

Cyber attack is a constant concern for any company with electronically stored information. In fact, one survey revealed that some 42.8 million cyber security incidents occurred globally, with small and medium-sized enterprises just as much at risk as the larger corporations that received the headlines.

A survey showed that the biggest fear amongst Irish companies is data loss or disclosure, with 91% of those surveyed prioritizing it. Some 50% also worried about phishing attacks.

In the UK, the Cyber Security Breaches Survey underlined the extent of the problem, with 46% of businesses surveyed confirming they had identified at least one cyber security attack over the previous 12 months. Some 66% of medium-sized firms and 68% of large firms had suffered at least one attack. The survey also confirmed that businesses with electronic data storage that includes personal customer details are at greater risk of attack – 51% compared to only 37% of those businesses that do not store customers’ personal information.

The continuing growth in popularity of Cloud storage in the face of media storage services highlights the general success such facilities have enjoyed. While not all businesses make use of them, 60% of those who do confirmed that commercially confidential information was among their electronic data stored on the Cloud (in the finance or insurance sectors).

Meanwhile, some 55% admitted they stored personal data relating to customers, staff or suppliers on the Cloud. These figures rise significantly to 69% and 67% in the finance or insurance sectors respectively.

How Media Storage Services Help

The key advantage in using professionally provided media storage services is an obvious one: absence from the internet places the data completely out of the hacks’ reach. After all, if the data is not electronically stored on the Cloud, how can it be accessed?

But full protection of sensitive, even critical, commercial, company or customer data requires more than just a defense against hacks. Because the media stored typically includes magnetic tapes, computer hard drives and microfilms, there are environmental as well as physical security concerns.

Key Elements Of A Media Storage Service

• Secure Vaults – First and foremost, the provisions of fully secured vaults means that access to stored data is impossible to those who are not officially approved for it. They are specifically designed to store microfilm tapes or hard drives, are defended with biometric security technology, and have both internal and external video surveillance.
• Fire & Flood Protection – Ordinary storage facilities can be susceptible to natural disasters or accidents, such as fire and flooding. The vaults offered by reputable media storage services will be fully fire protected and flooding proof. Leading facilities can withstand temperatures of over 1,000 degrees celsius, have automatic fire detection technology, and environmentally friendly fire suppression gas to extinguish a fire.
• Environmentally Regulated – Tapes can become damaged if not protected adequately and stored in the right conditions. The biggest culprits are fluctuating temperatures and humidity. Professional media storage services will provide facilities where these aspects can be regulated, ensuring the optimum storage environment. It should also include a 24-hour online monitoring of storage condition.
• Data Rotation – Outside the vault, media storage services can offer regular data rotation, where tapes or computer data is backed up. This is because, each time your data is updated in the office, the data in storage needs to be too. This service can be organized at agreed frequencies, be it daily, weekly or monthly, so you shouldn’t have to worry about remembering to get it done at all.

The idea behind this suite of services is that the critical data is not only kept safely away from cyber attack, but is also continually backed up. That way, in the event the data is lost, ether by a security breach or some other form of disaster, the data so important to your business can be restored almost immediately.

To find out more about our document storage services, please contact us today.