Kaspersky Lab Survey Results: 18% of South Africans Lost Backup Copies of their Data

A joint survey by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International has found that 18% of South African users surveyed who kept backup copies of their data on physical media eventually lost these copies. In the modern world, where information is highly valuable, it is important to not only create copies of your files in case they are lost, but to do so properly.

The survey revealed that whilst the vast majority (96%) of respondents stored confidential information — such as private correspondence, photos, passwords or financial data — on their devices, less than one third of the respondents considered creating backup copies in the event of data loss. 26% of users locally took no security measures of this kind and 5% did not even intend to do so in the future.

The survey also highlighted that those who did make backup copies of their files were not always guaranteed against their loss. Physical storage media, such as hard drives and flash memory, remained the most popular method: 80% of respondents locally kept their backup copies on such media, while only 11% used cloud services. However, of those who preferred physical storage media, 18% had experienced irrecoverable data loss because the storage device was lost, broken or stolen.

“By taking a systematic approach to backup, you can take good care of your data. Decide which information is the most valuable to you and create backup copies of it on a regular basis. The optimal way of keeping important information safe is in encrypted folders, stored both on physical media and in a cloud storage environment. This will safeguard your data even in the case of such highly unlikely events as a global Internet outage or the destruction of the building in which you keep your hard drive,” says Peter Aleshkin, Consumer Marketing Group Manager, Emerging Markets, Kaspersky Lab.

With the Windows version of Kaspersky Total Security — multi-device, you can make protected backup copies quickly, easily and automatically. Copies can be saved on the computer’s hard drive, as well as on an external storage medium (network drive, optical disc, flash memory card) or in cloud storage. Encryption technology can be used to secure data from falling into the wrong hands by protecting your files or even entire folders with a password known only to the data owner.