Survey finds that employee laptop risks still not being addressed

More than 50 percent of small-to-mid-sized companies do not have formal procedures in place for backing up mission critical data hosted on employee laptops, leaving them vulnerable to potential data loss. And it's not just laptop data at risk. While 90 percent of these companies are operating today with a formal data backup and storage strategy in place, less than half (32 percent) of these companies perform regularly scheduled testing and evaluation of their backup policies and procedures on a minimal basis of once per quarter.

These are some of the findings of a US data protection survey, sponsored by Imation Corp, which polled 200 IT directors and network storage managers of small-to-mid-sized companies on their perception of data protection practices and challenges.

Key findings:
* Despite the growing use of laptops in business, most companies do not have formal data backup and storage procedures in place for backing up data, and instead rely on the individual employee for laptop data backup.
* E-mail viruses have had the most profound effect on data backup procedures and are the number one reason companies review and change their data protection procedures.
* Regular testing of disaster recovery procedures are not yet a common practice.

Laptops represent one of the most overlooked backdoor risks to data backup and security for small-to-mid-sized businesses. The survey uncovered that 40 percent of these companies operate with an extensive network of laptop computers, yet only 50 percent of these companies have a formal data protection plan for their employee's laptops. Furthermore, of the 49 percent of companies with a formal laptop data protection plan, more than half (57 percent) of these companies hold the individual employee responsible for uploading their data onto the company server. The survey also found that less than one-third (29 percent) of these companies use software to backup changed files to a corporate network.

Imation recommends the following tips to help end-users avoid potential data loss on their laptops:

1. Implement a software program that automatically backs up laptop data on a regular basis. Most programs work by having the software monitor the laptop hard drive for any changes to data files or directories. Changes are then backed up locally on the laptop's hard drive. The next time the user connects to the company's network, the backup software automatically sends the changes to a server for further backup to tape.

2. Copying laptop files to a network drive for further backup to removable tape media is also a common strategy for companies not employing special software. In this case, the user should review their company's network backup processes to understand how often backups are performed.

3. If a user does not have regular high speed access to a company's network/file server, backup mission critical data to removable data storage media. CDs and DVDs are simple, effective and cost-efficient solutions for backing up employee laptop data quickly. Users should clearly label their files with the contents and date of backup, and keep one copy in the laptop case and one copy in a secure location - away from their place of business or laptop case. And protect sensitive data from loss or theft while travelling by transferring sensitive files from the laptop to an USB flash drive with password protection.

http://www.imation.com/dataprotectionsurvey

•Date: 26th January 2005 • Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: ISM
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