Is Your Data Secure

Due to the government carelessly losing sensitive data, belonging to 25 million individuals, banks have had to take extremely expensive emergency measures to closely monitor all fund transfers out of potentially affected accounts. This could also possibly involve closing 15 million accounts. It is likely that fraudsters may have got hold of the data, which Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, claimed was ‘lost in the post’, when courier firm TNT failed to deliver the DVDs to the National Audit Office. The information on the disks represents a potential gold mine for thieves and is even more valuable than credit card numbers, especially as the disks were not encrypted! Identity fraud is a numbers game and the government has certainly given thieves enough numbers to play with - a government that is meant to be leading the charge in data protection!

This is not the first time that public data has been compromised and if this level of security continues it certainly will not be the last. According to a survey conducted by YouGov, 4% of employees have lost, important data, whether this is through theft or carelessness. Poor management of customer data can also lead to a loss of company revenue; according to QAS, UK businesses are loosing 6.4% of revenue every year. IT service company, QuoStar, believe tougher security measures must be taken to protect data and find it unbelievable that the data was not encrypted by the government, and the disks sent without tracking. Although the mistakes of the government are irreversible, companies can carry out small scale day-to-day operations that can protect their data.

QuoStar poses the following questions to all companies in charge of any volume of data:


∑ Do you regularly backup your data in your company?
∑ Do you take the data off-site?
∑ If you deleted a folder 6 weeks ago without knowing, could you get it back today?
∑ Can you guarantee that you can get your data back if you came into your office to find you had been the victim of crime, flooding or electrical failure?


QuoStar have recently launched QuoStar Secure Backup, a simple, automated, highly secure and affordable system that efficiently backs up all data, to prevent data loss and ensure your company can function should theft, fire or hardware failure occur.

QuoStar is currently offering a 14 day trial, with no obligation to buy, so you can sample how QuoStar can provide the support and consultancy to deliver increased security, productivity and mobility for your business.

For further information, please contact QuoStar on Tel. 0845 644 0331 or visit http://www.quostar.com