You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that Facebook has been in some serious hot water over the past several months. Among the richest, most advanced, and widely used technologies on the planet, Facebook has access to an unfathomable amount of user data. The type of access that can, in the wrong hands, be inappropriately used.
Protecting, backing up your data, and the data of your clients is only becoming increasingly important. By the year 2020, it’s estimated that approximately 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created for every person on the planet every second. Do some math with that. Your calculator doesn’t have enough zeros. What happens when data at such a scale is mishandled? Well, let’s just ask Zuck.
The scandal from earlier this year involved Facebook and the controversial political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. Reports spoke of Facebook’s user data — from 50 million users — being inappropriately shared with the firm. Facebook later admitted the actual number was more in the ballpark of 87 million users.
They have professed to be working with authorities externally and internally to remedy their data security issues and prevent future mishaps. In an apology, Mark Zuckerberg’s robotic words were that they’d, “Do better.” Yes, Mark, we certainly hope so.
The first legal fines to come of the scandal have been imposed by the United Kingdom at the maximum of $662,900 (500,000 UK Pounds). For a global tech titan that makes over $37,000 every minute, that might seem a pebble in the ocean. It does, however, set the tone for further investigations, fines, and, potentially, closer looks at laws in the tech industry, which has long been left alone.
Sure, backing up your data, security management, or whatever IT solutions your company requires might not be as large as Facebook’s. That only makes it more important. IT services that provide data backup and recovery are your best friend and closest ally. After all, your business is made up of the data of your end users and clients. Their trust is in you and it’s in your best interest not to Zuck it up.
