Safeguarding Your Computer Records
In this computerised age, in the event of a commercial disaster such as fire, theft, flood, etc often the single most important facet ofreturning to full operating capacity is quick reinstatement of computer records and operation. If asked ’does your company take regular computer backups?’ the answer is generally ‘yes‘. But there is more to the process than just throwing a backup tape into the PC, letting it run and then putting it in the top draw.
• Storing backup media off-site – This is critical to safeguard your valuable records. You may have just taken a backup of your computer system, but if you have left the tape on your desk and there is a fire, you lose both your computer and the back-up. Also in the event of a theft, the thief will generally always take any useful re-writable media such as tapes and CDs.
• Storage conditions – if you intend to take back-ups off site please remember that all electronic storage media is temperature sensitive. If you toss it into the back of your car or into the glovebox and then leave it there rather than taking indoors when you get home – chances are the heat could have affected the integrity of the backup. Ideal conditions are no more than minus or plus 20 degrees celcius. Also never place your back-up media on top of other electronic equipment. If you place it on top of the TV or microwave you risk corrupting the data.
• Verification – When you have completed a backup the system will often print out a verification report to signify that the backup has been completed successfully. However, if there is a software issue causing a failure, the ‘successfully verified’ signal can be false. The quickest and easiest way to periodically check that your backups actually work is to pop the media back into the PC and attempt to extract a couple of files. There would be nothing worse than having a system failure and then finding that your
critical back-up tapes have failed.
• Archiving – Many companies use a system of rotating tapes or CDs. They may have perhaps 4 tapes which they use once a week and at the end of the month re-write over the top on a rotating basis. This is fine, but what happens if there is an undetected corruption? You may have overwritten the clean data with the corrupt version of a file before you realise there is anything wrong with it. In order to avoid this we suggest at least a monthly archive of the system which is never overwritten. This means that if you find a particular file is corrupted, you can go back and find a clean version. It may not be absolutely up to date but at least it is something to work with.
At Barley Insurances we operate a three pronged backup system:
• Weekly backups - whereby we have a set of CDs to match each week of the month – ie Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4. These are a full backup of the system and each month we write over the top of them.
• Daily backup – We have a CD for each day of the week and on that day only back up those files worked on during the day.
• Monthly archive – Once a month we do a full backup of the system which is put aside and is never over-written. Should corruption of any kind be noticed in a file we can go back to the last archive prior to the corruption.
Irrespective of theft, fire and other disasters which people tend to consider ‘won’t happen to me’, one thing is certain and that is that eventually your hard drive will fail. No hard drive will last for ever and often there are no warning signs that it is on its way out.
Having an effective back-up routine can save a lot of heartache.
For larger companies where a good risk management plan is critical and back-up of records is essential, there are providers in the market who will collect your daily backups, store off-site in special temperature controlled facilities and when needed can get them back to you 24/7 within 90 minutes. Give us a call if you wish to know more.
Insurance Fraud
Unfortunately for all of us, insurance fraud is on the increase. What some may consider is ‘just adding on a little extra to cover the excess’ or a chance to ‘recoup for all the years that I’ve been paying premium’ has a cost and it is contributing significantly to the premiums that all the rest of us are now being charged.
The cost for an insurer to prove and prosecute a single case of insurance fraud runs into the thousands of dollars and except in higher dollar value claims it is generally cheaper for the insurer to simply pay the claim. We have been informed by other broking organisations that there is an awareness of an increase in very overt attempts to obtain payment for fraudulent claims and they are finding it very disturbing.
If you happen to find a friend boasting that they intend to ’get their money’s worth ’ by falsifying a claim we suggest that you tell them to keep in mind that if they have a claim declined on the basis of attempted fraud they will be unable to purchase insurance again during their lifetime. This means that they will be unable to take out a mortgage or even obtain an HP on a car. In both cases the loan cannot be settled without a certificate of insurance. In the end this is costing us all more money. And, yes, Barley Insurances Ltd have to buy insurances, and contrary to popular belief we don’t get discounts!
If we can encourage our less honest acquaintances to take a more appropriate approach, we will all potentially reap the rewards by way of cheaper premiums.
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