Insurance is a funny business. Paying premiums feels like sending money into a black hole. The only time a paid-up premium feels good is when disaster strikes. At that time – when you're looking at your totalled car or the smouldering remains of your house – the hundreds of dollars you've forked out in premiums over the years suddenly all seem worthwhile.
The same applies to computing. To insure against digital catastrophes you need to invest time and money in procedures and equipment before disaster strikes. While a traditional insurance policy may be part of that investment, most of it comes in the form of setting up your system so it can withstand disasters of all kinds, including those for which no insurance company will cover you.
Recognising the risks
For many of us, especially home users, it's hard to recognise the risks we're laying ourselves open to in advance. It's only after disaster hits that we change our habits and institute a security regimen.
If you're one of the chosen who has been blessed with a hiccough-free computing life or you think computer 'insurance' is not worth the effort, take a few minutes to contemplate each of the following disaster scenarios. Imagine what it would mean to you if one of them befell you; how much pain each occurrence would cause you.
If you feel more than a twinge at the prospect, it's time to implement a disaster management plan of your own. Each scenario can result in a real nightmare, but having the appropriate insurance in place can turn the nightmare into a minimal nuisance.
Scenario 1: Your dog chases the cat through the office and, in the process, pulls the power plug out of your computer.
Nightmare scenario: You've spent all day working on the final section of a report due in tomorrow and now all that work has gone.
Insurance: Save and save often.
This type of insurance is almost painless. All it involves is establishing good work practices. Train yourself to click the Save icon or hit the Save keyboard combo (it's usually Ctrl+S) every minute or two, or every time you wring out a perfect sentence. Make a backup of your files, too, just in case that sudden power loss corrupts your original.
If you make this a habit, the dog can chase the cat all day long and the worst that will happen is you lose a paragraph or two. The cat, of course, may be more at risk.
Scenario 2: A virus infects your computer.
Nightmare scenario: The virus carries a damaging payload. It trashes your hard disk and no amount of post-infection work with an anti-virus program seems to clear it out completely. You finally decide to format your hard disk and reinstall Windows. You reload your data from your one-and-only back-up disc, only to find that the backup is infected, too. You have no idea when the virus first crawled onto your system.
Insurance: A combination of anti-virus software – kept current – and multiple backups.
It is worth paying for anti-virus software that's effective, easy to use and frequently updated. Your anti-virus software is only as good as its latest update.
There are some free anti-virus programs available, but some of those are not updated often and others are not great at preventing all threats. Anti-virus software should update itself automatically on a weekly basis and give you the option of updating manually more often. If you're not happy with your current anti-virus software, take a look at my article Which anti-virus program is the best?
No matter how good your anti-virus, you need to have backups of your data. There's always the risk that something will get through your defences or, of course, some other disaster will befall your data.
If you don't keep anything of importance or you don't have data that changes frequently on your computer, you can probably get away with monthly backups. If you have schoolwork, work-related data, or the hard-sweated fruits of your video-editing hobby on your computer, backup daily or weekly and keep at least two backup versions in rotation.
If you are backup averse, check out Second Copy 2000. This inexpensive program takes all the effort out of backing up and it's suitable for small offices and home use.
Scenario 3: Your notebook computer is stolen.
Nightmare scenario: Not only have you lost your uninsured notebook and all its data, when you next log on using another computer you find someone has been accessing your online accounts, locking you out of some of them and running up charges on your credit cards.
Insurance: Password protection, data encryption, backups, security awareness, and notebook insurance.
Notebook computers are horribly vulnerable. They are prime targets for theft and easily dropped or squashed. Even if you never use a password on your Windows desktop PC, you should always password protect your notebook. This gives at least minimal privacy for your data. If your notebook is capable of running Windows XP Professional, it's well worth upgrading it (make sure, first, that it's truly compatible) in order to take advantage of XP Pro's more robust password protection and data encryption.
Think carefully about the type of information you store on your notebook. Don't store credit card numbers, bank details, passport numbers, and online passwords and IDs in unprotected form. For instance, don't allow your browser to auto-fill forms and 'remember' passwords for sites. Instead, use a program such as CodeWallet Pro to store all your critical information, protected by a single password which you never write down and never share. (CodeWallet also comes in a version for Pocket PCs.)
Codewallet protects all your data with a single password.
Make sure you keep two backups of all data on your notebook and update the backups before each trip you make. Keep one back-up disc with you, stored separately from your notebook; keep the other at home or work. You may wish to make a third back-up disc and send it ahead via snail mail to your destination.
Notebooks are usually fairly expensive to insure because they are such high-risk targets. But some companies, such as Toshiba, offer insurance packages on their notebooks. StopTrack (that's the Australian site; you'll find the US site here) provides a service which lets you tag your notebook and identify it via a Web-based database if it is stolen and then resurfaces. The service is aimed at companies with many notebooks, but it's also available for smaller numbers of notebooks.
Keep in mind how desirable your notebook looks to others when you're out and about. Don't leave it lying on the ground even for a moment; don't place it in plain sight in your car; be discreet about using it in public.
Scenario 4: You connect your notebook to your network and the network becomes unstable.
Nightmare scenario: Your notebook has been acting strangely, so you decide to connect it to your network in order to access the Internet and do a little research on what might be ailing it. What is ailing your notebook is a virus you've acquired from a shared disk, and which has now infected the rest of your computer system.
Insurance: Security utilities installed on all your computers, including your notebook.
Even if you rarely use your notebook to connect to the Internet, maintain a high level of protection on it and install anti-virus and anti-spyware software at a minimum. Although the Internet is the primary source of virus and other infections, don't forget that viruses can be passed around via disks, too. Whenever you do connect to the Internet, check that your security software is up to date.
If your notebook suddenly becomes unstable, do a thorough security test before you connect it to a network.
Scenario 5: Your teenager knows more about PCs than you do.
Nightmare scenario: But she doesn't know enough to avoid online perils and screwing up the settings on your PC. She's going through that damn rebellious stage, to boot. You're concerned about who she's been chatting with online, you can't figure out why your browser now defaults to a hacker site when you launch it, nor why your desktop sports a different picture of Powderfinger each day.
Insurance: Commonsense guidelines and agreements, self-education, Content Advisor, and using profiles.
The real key is commonsense. Talk to your children about what they do online, what interests them, what you see as the risks. Unless you're in a state of generational warfare, you'll find that setting reasonable guidelines for how and when they use the computer will usually elicit a reasonable response. Provide information about the types of risks around and ways to avoid being duped. Check out the resources at sites such as SafeTeens, SmartParent and The Parents Guide to the Information Superhighway.
Consider placing the computer in a family area, where you interact with your children. Don't spend your time surfing over their shoulders; on the other hand, don't hesitate to ask what's grabbed their interest.
Educate yourself so you can be informed about your children's computer usage instead of intimidated by it. Become familiar with your browser's security features, and its history and browser cache, for tracking visited sites.
For younger children who may not have the tools to recognise an online threat or suspicious behaviour online, consider using Internet Explorer's Content Advisor to restrict the types of sites which can be visited (Tools Menu -> Internet Options -> Content tab -> Content Advisor section). Note that I don't advise using Internet Explorer as your default browser; you're much better off using a more secure browser such as Firefox or Opera. There are also third-party tools for restricting browser, e-mail and instant messaging usage, such as Cyber Patrol, Surf on the Safe Side, and Net Nanny.
One of Internet Explorer's useful features is the Content Advisor; it lets you restrict which sites may be visited. (Click to view a full-size screenshot.)
To protect your own data and settings while letting your children go wild on their own desktops, set up multiple logons. Use profiles in Windows 9x to allow each person who uses the computer to keep their own desktop settings, Start menu, Internet Favorites and My Documents. To set up a profile click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel, double-click Users, and follow the steps in the wizard. Windows XP handles profiles automatically when you set up a new user (Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts).
Scenario 6: The file server crashes.
Nightmare scenario: It's the day before you're due to close a major deal. The IT support people discover your motherboard has fried and the earliest you can get a replacement is tomorrow. Yes, your data was mirrored using RAID technology, but the mirrors are all on the defunct server.
Insurance: Server mirroring or clustering; ensuring critical backups are accessible when the main server is down; printouts of essential documents.
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology is one of the less expensive ways of keeping an up-to-the-minute copy of your data, but if your RAID-enabled server goes down, down go all the disks. A more expensive solution is server mirroring, where you dedicate two (or more) servers to storing identical data. You need to weigh the expense of buying and setting up such a system against the financial loss your business could suffer if your server went out for even a day or two.
You'll be ahead of the game if your data backups are stored in a form or a location which is accessible even if your server is out. Failing that, being able to put your hands on a hard-copy version of a document may be the difference between closing the deal and missing out. As a business deadline approaches, think about what it would mean if you had no computer access for a day or two before the deadline. What files would you need to be able to lay your hands on? What documents could you resurrect on the spot? Have a disaster plan ready to ensure your business can function, at least to some degree, if the computers go down.
Scenario 7: A key employee leaves.
Nightmare scenario: This crucial employee not only leaves, but he leaves in a huff wishing doom and despair on you and your progeny. Oh, and he just happens to have been the one person in your organisation who knew anything about the computers. And he didn't tell you his administrator's password. And you can't get into the PC. But you think he might have erased your company accounts.
Insurance: Company-wide computer training, password policies, backup policies, security software.
This sort of disaster might befall any company, but it's far more likely to happen to a small business or small organisation where one person ends up as the computer 'expert' by default. One of the best insurance policies a small organisation can have is to ensure all, or at least a decent percentage of employees have a working knowledge of the computer system. This provides insurance not only in the case of a rogue employee, but also for everyday possibilities such as someone being out sick.
Establish company policies about passwords and make sure no single person can lock you out of a crucial system. At a minimum, two people in an organisation should be able to gain access to any system. When someone leaves your organisation, change all relevant passwords.
Have backup policies in place, too, so you can resurrect damaged or missing data and know that a backup will take place even in the absence of a crucial employee.
Finally, make sure your computers are fully protected by a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware software. If someone leaves shouting threats, you want to make sure your system has not been damaged before they leave, and is not vulnerable to attack from outside.
Scenario 8: The office burns down.
Nightmare scenario: The insurance will, maybe, cover the replacement of the computer equipment. But that's it. Everything else is gone, including your data, all your applications discs, everything.
Insurance: Off-site backups; record of licence numbers; adequate insurance to cover physical plant, data loss, and cost of reentering data; procedures and policies for critical tasks in the absence of computers.
In the event of a major disaster, such as a fire, flood or burglary, the key is getting back up and running as soon as possible. If you run a business, you should store critical data off-site (as well as having copies readily accessible). Maintain a list of all software registration/licence numbers, and keep that list with your off-site backups.
Insuring your computer may pay for a replacement box, if you're lucky, but it's what is inside the box that burned that really matters. Look into getting coverage for your data – and the cost of having someone re-enter all that data, too.
Finally, have a disaster plan already formulated. Are there ways your organisation or business can carry on its activities in the absence of its computer system? If your whole office burns down, the task may be beyond you; but if a burglar breaks in and steals all your computers, leaving the rest of your office intact, what can you do to ensure your office keeps running until those machines can be replaced?
© 2005 Rose Vines
Support geekgirl'sDo you find the tutorials on this site useful? If so, please show your support by kicking in a few bucks to sponsor an orphanage for Afghan refugees. For a small amount, it is possible to make a difference in an area of the world which is hurting badly. |
|
|
| Want to know more? Read this post on my blog. |
| top | home |