Going digital is an attractive ideal. It means less paper cluttering our homes, offices and recycling bins. Digitized data can’t be easily lost, eaten by the dog or torn up by the baby.
According to SDB Magazine, which serves the storage and destruction business, 95 percent of all data created today are “digitally born.” This includes medical, financial and a host of other data from school and employment records to social media. But given the amount of security breaches, is an all-digital lifestyle safe for consumers to embrace?
Not All Data Is Sensitive
First, consider that not all data lying around the home are particularly sensitive. Few people use film cameras, for example, and digitizing old photos is really the best way to preserve them for future generations.
Most people don’t have the time or inclination to properly store physical data that protects against moisture, mold and theft. But few documents really need to be preserved in hard copy: passports, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and birth certificates (long and short forms!) are among the handful. Purchase a strong, fireproof safe to store these documents. If possible, get the type that bolts to the floor.
Newspapers and magazines offer digital subscriptions. Buy a tablet (many are available for under $125) and give it a try. It’s better for the environment, and you can store each issue. Libraries loan books digitally, and in many cases, digital book purchases are less expensive than hard copies.
Are tablets bad for your eyes? The jury is still out according to Digital Trends. While tablet reading in the dark at bedtime will affect sleep cycles, blue light from LED bulbs is thought to be far more damaging. Tablets can also enlarge type size, providing relief to the nearsighted.
Take Steps to Strengthen Your Data Protection
If you have any online accounts, you are already storing data digitally. Consider enrolling in a data protection service. The best ones continually scan for evidence of breaches, provide instant notification of potential threats, track black market websites and deliver restoration services in the event of a breach. Some attach guarantees to their services.
Strengthen your passwords. Use a password vault service that stores them and creates new, random ones as often as you wish.
Much of the concern about data breaches point to cloud services. But these are hardly the only options out there. Digital Trends is among many sources that recommend using several data storage and backup services.
- External hard drives store large amounts of data; a terabyte (TB) costs under $75 and will last for up to about eight years.
- Flash drives currently store up to 1TB, but their durability is uneven. They will need to replaced every year or so.
- Blu-ray discs are being strengthened to store as much as 1TB each, but these are for the corporate markets and expensive.
- DVDs have limited storage capabilities and are being phased out, but in a pinch they are better than nothing.
Be sure back up your data often by programming your computer and/or tablet to do so every day or at least once a week. Lock the media in the safe discussed above.
The cloud, Digital Trends concludes, is the best option but shouldn’t be the only one you use. Strengthening the cloud is the top focus in IT, according to the 2015 Computerworld Forecast Study, which should provide some comfort.
