Kroll Ontrack, the
leading provider of data recovery, electronic discovery, and information
management products and services, announced the most important technology
trends for the coming year include virtualization, cloud computing, social
networking and energy efficiency. However, businesses that want to benefit from
these trends need to look at adopting iron clad information management and
security strategies to ensure data security and data loss avoidance.
"Technologies
like virtualization, cloud computing, social networking and energy efficiency
present companies with major opportunities to develop their businesses - even
in difficult economic times," said Todd Johnson, vice president of data
recovery operations, Kroll Ontrack. "However, despite all the enthusiasm
for these developments, it is important to keep one eye firmly fixed on the
associated risks. Just as with any other technology, data loss can never be
completely prevented, and businesses should be prepared for these incidents
before they occur."
In 2012,
virtualization will continue to evolve and spark a variety of other trends,
predicts IT analyst firm Gartner. Without a doubt, virtualization provides more
flexibility and hardware independence; however, the risk of data loss remains.
Even in the virtual world, information is still stored on a hard or tape drive.
Hardware independence does not therefore eliminate the risk of hardware
failure, operating errors or insufficient employee training. Rather, companies
should make sure they adjust their information management strategies for newly
adopted technologies and their associated risks as well as know that expertise
and specialized tools can result in a successful data recovery from these
complex infrastructures.
Companies will
also continue to increase their use of cloud computing in 2012. According to a
report recently published by Cisco Systems, cloud-related network traffic is
increasing by 66 percent each year. In 2010, there were 130 exabytes of data
flowing through cloud networks, and if Cisco's predictions are correct, by
2015, this will increase to 1.6 zettabytes. Although cloud computing offers
optimized storage that is not connected to a specific infrastructure, this
technology still relies on hardware components and is consequently not immune
to data loss. Cloud service clients should therefore work with their provider
to understand what safeguards are in place in the event of data loss. A sound
and tested disaster recovery plan with an experienced data recovery provider
denoted is imperative for any cloud service. Social networking tools such as
Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are increasingly being used by companies for
marketing, recruiting and information sharing. While there is tremendous value
in harnessing this collective information, organizations can't overlook how to
protect it. Higher levels of human interaction equate to increases in storage
volume and consequently the probability of data loss and data security
vulnerabilities. Organizations therefore need to make decisions regarding if
and where this social networking content is physically stored and how this
information can be protected.
The growing
bring-your-own-device trend also presents businesses with new challenges, as
privately owned mobile phones, tablets and laptops may not be sufficiently
secured. Without a concise back-up strategy for personal devices, valuable
information may be lost if the personal device is damaged or stolen. Further,
proprietary data could remain on the personal laptop or iPad[R] when the
employee leaves the company. Companies need services that can retrieve data
from damaged devices when necessary as well as professional solutions to
securely delete data without damaging the device itself. Flash storage drives
and solid state disks (SSDs) in particular offer greater storage capacities and
are falling in price. As flash and SSD technology become more widespread, the
amount of critical company data stored on them will also grow. Users therefore
need efficient ways of recovering data from flash media and SSDs. Standards
have not yet been established, so manufacturers have developed their own
versions of the technology. As new products hit the market quickly, data
recovery engineers will have to stay up-to-speed with the necessary tools and
technologies to successfully retrieve data from flash and SSDs. For flash and
SSD users, this means that regular backups are even more important.
Finally, 2011 data
breach stories and countless spot checks have shown time and again that
confidential data has been and continues to be easily retrieved using
relatively simple methods. As new technology is adopted in 2012 and older
corporate and end user technology is discarded or donated to charitable
institutions, organizations and consumers alike must develop strategies for
securely deleting data before passing them on. This applies to all mobile
devices, laptops, virtual infrastructure, USB sticks, archive volumes and
memory cards that are discarded, donated or resold on the second-hand market.
"Kroll
Ontrack data engineers specialize in these issues and regularly help
organizations and home users with recovering lost or damaged data and advising
them on data management strategies," said Johnson. "We continually
invest in creating current proprietary tools and technologies to address the
latest technology developments and use trends."
Keywords:
Industry, Kroll Ontrack Inc., Technology Companies, Information and Data Security,
Information and Data Management, Information and Data Loss and Recovery,
Information Technology Service Companies.
