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By Steve Davis, Marketing Director, NGD

Last week, a well-known insurance firm revealed a report berating business owners for not safeguarding themselves against cyber attack and failing to take out sufficient cyber insurance cover.  At the same time, another leading insurer was found to have lost a portable data storage device containing thousands of customer files belonging to a major bank.

As for the first insurance company, sure, cyber data loss insurance is a line of defence but somewhat after the fact when considering the damage and chaos that happens in such circumstances. As for the other insurance company, if they and a bank can’t look after their data between them, who or what can? 

Well, there are plenty of alternatives these days for storing and transferring data to prevent carrying it around. How about trying secure networks connected to servers in high security data centres?

For me, physical and digital security should go hand in hand.  From prison grade perimeter fencing, security guards, CCTV, infra-red detection and lockable rack cabinets, to the latest most sophisticated anti-malware and virus software available. Clearly, even the largest organisations cannot consistently expect to attain such rigorous levels of security all on their own and it’s certainly out of reach for most small and medium size firms to attempt it. Sheer cost and keeping up with the ever changing technology landscape see to that.  

This is precisely why colocation data centres like NGD have been in the ascendancy for several years now. Organisations, of all sizes, choose to use them for one primary reason – to keep their data safe and continuously available. 

Modern data centres have multiple levels of physical and digital security in place to deter and prevent all perpetrators, from opportunists hoping to walk in and ‘lift’ a computer server, storage device or whatever, through to the highly organised and systematic cyber terrorist variety. Peace of mind is both available and affordable for all, from those customers requiring just a quarter or half rack up to others looking to run hundreds of racks. 

Although there’s irony in last week’s revelations there’s also a moral to the tale. No matter what, keep your data out of harm’s way at all times – or it may well come back and bite you! Prevention is much more preferable to finding a cure.