108
PROTECT
AND
PRESERVE
I
fyou were to carry out asurvey, there’s little doubt that gold would be
high up on the list of the commodities that are considered the most
valuable.Yet other chemical elements, including several that are used
in manufacturing electronic devices, are much more costly,while for
those in famine-torn areas, the basic requirements of life, such as
water and rice,would surely be the most important.
Interestingly,one commodity is rarely thought about in this context, yet it’s
vital to the wayoflifeweenjoyinthe 21st century.According to the rhetoric,
we live in an information age,and much of business is increasingly engaged in
the digital economy,sothere’s surely astrong case to suggest that data is the
gold of the third millennium. And this isn’t true only of business. Each of us
relies on data, yet commonly,wedon’t take care of that data with the same
care and attention as we do with our more conventionally valuable possessions.
DATA MIGHT BE AVALUABLECOMMODITY,BUT IT’S REMARKABLY EASY
TO LOSE OR FOROTHERSTOGET THEIRHANDS ON. MIKE BEDFORD
PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON HOWTOPRESERVE, RECOVERAND DESTROY
DATA,AND LOOKSATTHE TECHNOLOGIES INVOLVED
