Startups are no different than any other companies when it comes to security and data safety
Startup companies vary in size – from a single founder who is also the architect, IT administrator, business development, marketing specialist, and anything in between, to ones that employ hundreds of people.
Regardless of its size, any startup needs to think about and implement security protocols. In addition, the startup needs to be able to minimize downtime and be back online as soon as possible, in case of a disaster. Latest technology advances leave no room for excuses and actual downtime. Founders need to think about such implications from day one.
Why does a startup need security and disaster recovery plans?
“Startup” means everything needs to be “right now”. Teams are almost all the time sprinting and on the verge to moe with the next new feature, which will help them make it big.
In such environments, a security breach or an actual disaster event can be critical. Because it eats your very precious resource – time. Security issues mean stopping development and addressing tasks immediately. These are tasks that do not bring any immediate benefits to the startup and require the attention of the best company resources.
In case of a machine crash, virus attacks or data loss, having a data recovery service is critical to becoming operational almost immediately.
What security and IT services are a requirement for any startup
Network Administrator – this can be a full-time employee or a contractor. The channels to find such a specialist are the online hiring boards or recruiting companies. One interesting option might be the services offered by UCDavis in South California. You need a network administrator to set up your internal network as well as to control the interface between your company network and the outside world. This is a critical position and it is always best to work with a certified and recommended resources. A person with no experience can really damage your company, reputation and expose you to malicious attacks.
White Hat Services (ethical hackers). These are extremely skilled and knowledgable people who understand how the Internet works, network security and communication protocols. These are the “good guys” in the society who will audit your vulnerabilities and close down any potential security holes in your setup.
Here are a few companies that may be able to help with your needs:
Cyber Threat Intelligence Services. these are service providers that will help you design and build a cyber threat intelligence process to analyze and apply threat intelligence to protect the business. In other words, these companies offer knowledge and experience in recognizing cyber attacks and patterns of attacks and will help you build the defense you need.
Here are a few service providers:
Backup And Restore Services. These are probably services we all are familiar with. Nobody wants to lose a file. But why would I need a backup service, all my data is in the cloud?
Your data may be all in the cloud, but that is not the only thing you need to be fully productive with minimum downtime. Let’s say your machine crashed really badly. If you don’t have your restore options, you will need to (probably) install your OS, then all the applications you need, configure them with all of your favorite settings, color schemas, data locations and so on. With a restore service, all that will be a matter of simply restoring your machine.
You need to think of restore services as a quick way to recover not only from data loss but virus attacks too.
Few back-ups and restore service providers:
Data Recovery. When your disk dies, you need to turn to a Data Recovery service. These are the companies you will need when your hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive or any external storage device fails.
Data recovery is expensive service and most of the time companies offering this service cannot guarantee success. In many cases, the failure is beyond fixing and the only thing that can help you is having a backup.
Few data recovery companies in the LA area:
- Yelp listing
- Five Start Data Recovery – I have personally used their services and they are very capable experts
Conclusion
As a startup founder, you need to keep an eye on many different components that comprise your company. This includes much more than the product or service you are building.
You need to build your idea but you also need to protect it and make sure you can get back to your innovation state as quickly as possible in case of security issues or data loss. Losing your laptop should not mean you lost your company.
0 Comments