Please explaine how each of the following risks to data can be protected against?

Nicola Atkins

Corruption
Loss
Illegal Copying
Poor Storage of Data
Theft

Can anybody help me with this question please?


Thanks

PGM

If it was your business, what would you do?

Esme

Taking backups of everything at work and at a seperate location. Protecting files and computers with passwords, that sort of thing.

Raging Pineapples

Pre-emptive stuff too. Is it your personal machine as well (e.g. work from home), or a business machine?

Never consider using illegally obtained software (more of a risk if it's your personal machine, due to MP3s, etc). Many people do pirate software and music, because it's 'free'. Except it's actually not, because very often the crackers who pirated the software bundled a few little surprises in it. Usually to find your company contact details and sell it to mailers, or (rarely) to get your company card details.

If you don't do anything illegal online, your chances of getting a virus fall exponentially.

You mention data corruption too - make sure your accounting software is ACID. In other words, that it has (amongst other things) atomicity, the capacity to either post none of a transaction or all of it.

Otherwise you can post a batch, and halfway through the connection is severed and you end up with a suspense account, or internal database errors that only tech support can fix. The best systems create a buffer on the server until all the data is received, and only when the whole thing is downloaded in full does the server start entering it into the system. If in doubt, ask Tech Support for your product.

One very good trick to avoid people hacking your accounting system (or rather, to make it less likely) is to make sure the accounts server is NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. Not at all, never. This has been kind of undermined by recent systems which offer to file all these returns for you online, but it may not be worth the risk - depends if you're likely to get hacked or not. A software firm is more likely than, say, a one-man-band bookkeeper in Aberdeen. Many accounts software firms offer updates on CD as well as downloadables, so go for these.

Poor Storage of data... you'd need to make sure you have good backups. Also, keep the backup media new. So don't re-use the same tapes for 10 years, maybe replace them annually or bi-annually, to avoid the risk of corruption.

On a side note, make sure if you dispose of machines, you use software to scour the hard disks out. You'd be amazed how much data is stolen from old PCs.

Nicola Atkins

Thank you

Thanks for your help.


Nicola

Nicola Atkins

Thank you for your help

Nicola

PGM

Raging Pineapples wrote: »

One very good trick to avoid people hacking your accounting system (or rather, to make it less likely) is to make sure the accounts server is NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. Not at all, never. This has been kind of undermined by recent systems which offer to file all these returns for you online, but it may not be worth the risk - depends if you're likely to get hacked or not.

No internet connection???

Might make doing business a little harder. I'd recommend a good router and hardware firewall, along with virus software should make it safe enough.