Data Continuity Officer

Who has the checkbook?

In most families, there is the person that is responsible for the finances. They are the ones to make sure the rent and utilities are paid. They may or may not be the “bread winner” of the household but understand how things fit together.

They know answers to basic questions:

When is the next pay day?
When is rent due?
How to log onto online banking?
Where is the checkbook?

While it can be a shared responsibility, realistically, one person assume a primary role. Sometimes, it rotates so that full appreciation occurs.

Is the role filled?

In the same vein, someone in your household needs to become the Data Continuity Officer. You cannot assume:

Bad luck doesn’t happen to me
Someone else will take care of it

Assume Responsibility

First things first, you need to assess your situation and start asking basic questions:

Where is all of my data?
How is it backed up?
What happens when you (or someone else) are(is) gone?

Backup Assessment

With backup, it is common to talk about hard drives crashing. Although this has happened to me personally, the solutions are often framed around hardware redundancy (e.g. RAID). While the reliability is better, it more prudent to expand the conversation to include very common situations. Are you prepared for?:

What happens if I lose my phone/laptop?
What happens if my house is struck by lightening, frying every electronic device contained?
What happens if I meant to do a “Save As” but instead override an existing file?
What happens if I did the previous situation last month but just now realize?
What happens if I get ransom ware?

Once you get an honest assessment of the current state, effective solutions can be found…versus token solutions that simply address hardware reliability.