The Hidden Costs of Data Breaches and How to Avoid Them

Today’s society has grown all too accustomed to hearing yet another well-known company listed in the headlines as the latest victims of a massive data breach. By the time we hear this news, the company-and often its customers-have already suffered losses. Some of these losses are obvious, like the loss of data stolen by hackers. There are also significant hidden costs of data breaches that were recently calculated as high as $350 million in a July 2018 global study conducted by IBM.

The hidden costs of data breaches include:

Lost business:
While a company is recovering from a data breach, their systems might be down or compromised. Some companies elect to cease operations all together until security can be restored. The cost of this lost business adds up by the second. Most of these breaches stem from a malicious or criminal attach (instead of a glitch or human error) so in addition to repairing the damage, cybersecurity professionals must also shore up the vulnerabilities that allowed the attack to happen in the first place.

Lost time:
While the damage accrues quickly, the process to identify and contain a breach often does not. According to this latest report, companies took an average of 197 to identify a data breach. Once identified, it takes an average of 69 days to contain the breach. If companies were able to contain a breach faster (i.e. in less than 30 days), they saved over $1 million dollars. There’s also the hidden cost of shifting employee resources and time during a breach or containment period. Work and focus on current projects often shuts down as all hands on deck address the crisis. In the cast of a large company, this can also demand an entire marketing campaign to message the results of the breach and company response to customers.

Lost reputation:
The reputational damage caused by a data breach can be the most painful to bear for companies. These costs are often hidden because it’s difficult to capture clients who would have been had they not heard of a company’s breach. Customers also seem to react and respond differently depending on the type of data lost in a breach. In a 2011 study on the impact of data breach on company reputation, most people surveyed were more concerned if their personal, confidential information was lost or stolen compared to their employee files. They also estimated that it would take 8 months to 1 year for a company to recover from the damage caused by a breach. Communicating a breach early, thoroughly, and providing updates to customers were noted as best practices to preserve and regain reputation following a breach.

Recognizing the hidden costs of data loss should provide additional motivation to pursue a dedicated data loss prevention strategy. Whether you own a company or have your data saved by hundreds of companies, we’re all impacted by data breaches. Challenge the companies that you trust your data with to protect it as if it was their own.

source: securedatarecovery.com

How to Remove a Trojan Virus and Recover Lost Files

Anyone who uses a computer understands that Trojan viruses or other malware can release a storm of problems on your PC. Here are some quick tips on removing a Trojan virus and other malware to recover lost files on your computer. 



What Can Malware do to your Computer? 


To understand how to remove malware, you first have to understand how they work. There are a number of different malware categories, including:


Adware
Backdoor
Hijackers
Dialers
Spyware
Virus
Worm

Malware typically comes from corrupted downloads. Specifically, a Trojan virus appears innocent on the surface, but has been designed to unleash havoc on your system. Sometimes, it provides a backdoor entry to your computer system, or download more dangerous software on your hard drive in the future.

Removing a Trojan Virus

Typical computer Viruses, on the other hand, self-replicate themselves and infect other files or programs on your computer. Whether or not you can eliminate a Trojan virus will depend on the severity. In this case, when removing a Trojan virus, it’s always recommended taking it to a data recovery professional. There are anti-malware programs, however, that prevent and eliminate these attacks from occurring. We recommend Autoruns from Sysinternals. The software is free, and it provides you with a detailed report of potential malware threats and how to get rid of them. For the most part, the programs that run through Autoruns will be safe from cyber-threats. But remember, before you delete anything, first examine the files that are currently being scanned from Autoruns. Once you determine that those files are corrupt or safe to delete, you can use an anti-virus program to safely remove them.

Recovering Lost Files on your Hard Drive

To recover a lost file, we normally recommend taking the proactive approach and backing up your data. It’s much easier to use a backup than it is to try to recover your information after a malware-attack. You can also check the recycling bin for deleted files. Getting into the habit of creating backups could save you a lot of headache and frustration later. You could also consider using file recovery software to restore data that has been emptied from the recycling bin. We recommend Recuva Portable because it’s free, easy to use for beginners, and it has an impressive success rate. It will even give you a preview of the images that you can recover. Whether you need to recover lost files or figure out how to remove a Trojan virus, contact the experts at Secure Data Recover for help you can trust!

source:  securedatarecovery.com

How Can I Recover My Data from a Failed Hard Drive?

Like most computer users, at some point you’re going to find yourself in a moment of panic that all of your hard work and cherished memories are gone due to problems with the system. A catastrophic hard drive failure strikes fear in the hearts of many – you’re not alone! Often times, this is the result of the user failing to do basic hard drive maintenance and backing-up their data. Here are a few tips that can help when trying to recover your precious data from a failed hard drive:

 Identify Why the Hard Drive Failed

Take an inventory of the important data you may lose if the drive cannot be recovered. You may have sensitive tax information, irreplaceable family photos & videos, a collection of hard to replace, vintage software, or personal information that cannot get into untrusted hands. Regardless of whatever you lost, the important thing is to remain calm. There is a chance you will be able to recover your data on your own (without possessing a Master's Degree in Computer Science). After you’ve made an inventory of the important stuff, your next step is going to be trying to figure out what happened in the first place.
Is your system extremely old and the hard drive failed physically?
Did you just recently install a new piece of software?
Did one of your children accidentally download a virus or some other nasty malware?
Maybe, your wife knocked a glass of ice tea onto your laptop?
There are a million things that could have happened, but don’t worry, something can always be done to fix it.

Hard Drive Recovery Basics

Based on what happened, you can narrow down to an issue of physical or software-based breakdown. Physical hard drive issues are called "mechanical drive failures" and software issues are known as "logical drive failures". There are plenty of recovery tools available that will make software (or logical) recovery much easier. As for the hardware based (or mechanical) issues, those are typically a little bit more complex and often require professional help, such as professional hard drive repair, or hard drive recovery. At this point, cross your fingers and hope for a logical drive failure because mechanical failure can be somewhat pricey depending on the situation and what company you decide to go with. If you are not 100% certain the problem is logical or mechanical in nature, you are probably going to want to remove the drive from the system and try to test it on another. If your drive is installed in another system (or in a USB disc cradle), can you hear the plates inside spinning? Listen closely and you should be able to hear a slight "whirling" noise as the drive plates begin to operate. If you have a SSD drive, they are "solid-state" in nature so you won't have the benefit of sound and will have to run some diagnostics tests to determine if the failure is logical or mechanical.

Hard Drive Recovery Tools

Next, you are going to need to download some hard drive recovery tools that can run an initial diagnostic on the device to determine our next course of action. There are several options available, but stick to one of the best programs on the market, Secure Data Recovery Hard Drive Repair Software. After you’ve read up on the software program of your choosing, the next step is going to be putting it into action. If for some reason you are just unable to get your data restored or you realize you are looking at a catastrophic, mechanical hard drive failure -- it may be time to throw in the towel and call in the professionals. Secure Data Recovery is unmatched in our ability to meet customers need and get back data when it matters most. Give us a call at 1-800-388-1266 today if you need our help.

source:  securedatarecovery.com

How Much Does Data Recovery Cost?

Almost all reputable data recovery companies will charge for individual scenarios, and that has sometimes led to confusion about the rate for professional services. To put it simply, in most cases you are not given a single flat rate. This is because the average data recovery cost comes with hidden fees. In a lot of cases, a data recovery company you contact will give you a broad-ranging quote that makes it impossible to know how much you will actually pay. Once you hand your device or PC over, you are in a weaker position, so that’s why you get a quote up front.

Different Way To Charge For Data Recovery Services
 
When you visit a quality data recovery company, you should know what to expect early on in the transaction. Transparency is important and can be based on a few factors: • Size of the drive • Problem with your device • Whether previous attempts to recover have worked In most cases, problems will fall into the following categories: Basic, Firmware or Mechanical. Basic looks at bad sectors, deleted data and data corruption. Firmware address damage or corruption to components that needs repairing. If there is a mechanical problem, that sometimes cost extra. This happens because technicians have to slowly go through every part of your computer to see where it’s going wrong and there are replacement costs. A well-regarded company describes any pricing options with its customers before starting any work.

Data recovery questions and answers
 
We get a ton of questions about the cost of data recovery services. Here are a few answers to those frequently asked questions.

How much do data recovery services cost upfront?

In all but the rarest of circumstances, you do not need to pay a fee for our services before we do any work. You will only pay after we successfully recover your missing data. Should you decide you need it, we offer prepaid shipping so that you can send us your device for an evaluation.

Will you give an estimate?
 
You do not have to walk into our data recovery services blindly. Yes, we give our customers free data recovery evaluations. We also have a risk-free data recovery evaluation for almost every technological device. Some of the components we often work with include: • RAID Arrays • Hard Drives • Servers • Systems Our evaluation includes a diagnostics report with detailed information about whether our services will be the best choice for you. The report includes a list of the recoverable files, an accurate price estimate and an estimated turnaround time for your issue. What if there is no way to recover my files? Because we have top-of-the-line technology with qualified and reputable experts, we can help you to stop losing information from almost all devices. Unfortunately, there are cases where we cannot recover the data. When that happens, we do not charge fees. We understand. We would not want to pay for services that didn’t work, either.

How much does data recovery cost?

That depends on who you use and what type of services you need. Get a quote in advance and don’t work with anyone who won’t do that for you. You want to entrust your data recovery efforts to an expert who will not just take your money.

source: securedatarecovery.com