It’s getting on to that time of year again … Oktoberfest!
“Why is it called Oktoberfest when the majority of the event occurs in September?”
That, my friends, is because of marketing.
Oktoberfest began in 1810 and, without going into the history of the festival, the short answer is that the festival ends the on the first Sunday in October (unless it runs into Monday or Tuesday… never mind that now) and, to maximize the fun and profit, the start got pushed back into the middle of September.
This year, in 2022, after the pent-up demand post Covid, Oktoberfest in Munich, and around the world, looks to be a really raucous time. Officially, Oktoberfest began on Saturday, September 17h . While enjoying a stein or two of Oktoberfest Hofbraü, the days troubles start to melt away.
Then it happens, while “Prost”-ing with your fellow revelers, your cell phone lands in the beer.
Not to worry, though, you have the phone backed up, right? RIGHT?
Wurst (sorry, couldn’t help it) case, there’s gotta be a bag of rice around here somewhere!
You’re probably not going to find a bag of rice big enough to save you when your phone gets fully submerged in a stein of beer or slips out of your pocket while boating or you land in the pool with it in your pocket. That piece of technology probably won’t ever be the same.
What about the data that’s on the phone, though? Can that be recovered? Depends on if it’s being backed up to the cloud manually or automatically and when the last time a full synch was done.
Backups of all systems are critical to keeping business and personal data safe and sometimes to keeping your company up and running. Making sure that you can recover important client information and operational information for your business, keeping it safe from being ransomed or stolen by hackers, protected from malware, former employees and even competitors can mean the difference of staying in business and going under.
Sometimes, we even must protect the data from ourselves and our own actions.
Any device that has company data on it should be covered with a policy for usage, data ownership and data retention. There should be policies for when company data is on a device (laptop, tablet or cell phone) that is company owned or if a Bring Your Own Device that has company data on it.
The policies should cover topics including:
- Acceptable use (types of websites)
- Company data ownership statement
- Process to return of company property and/or data when leaving company
- Required maintenance tasks and availability to keep the devices secure
- Mandatory backup of data on the devices
Tools exist to manage laptops, tablets, and cell phones, even for small and medium-sized businesses. The tools can mitigate disaster by forcing backups and maintenance tasks to keep company data and devices safe from attacks and human error.
IT On Demand supplies our customers with templates to start building a policy library and the tools to protect and maintain the equipment that is used regularly to do business in an ever-more connected world.
The time to have these policies and processes in place is before a catastrophic event occurs.
Dropping a cell phone into a stein of beer is bad. Bad for the beer, bad for the phone. It’s unlikely you’re going to find rice in that beer garden or beer tent, by the way. Don’t make it wurst (I know, again) by not having the tools in place to have the data backed up and recoverable.
While drinking and eating through this Oktoberfest season, make sure you keep your company data protected. It can even save the photos you’ve taken of the boss in lederhosen to post up on the company intranet.
PROST!
Security Evangelist Howard Globus has more than twenty years of experience designing, installing and supporting Windows server and workstation products in industries where security and reliability are critical. System engineering and administration experience includes customized Windows Server and Workstation installs, designed to be deployed using the latest automated technology available and managed using products found onsite at most Fortune 500 firms to ensure a wide variety of potential personnel to support the products in the future.
