No technology trend has been more ubiquitous lately than online security (or the lack thereof). With major corporations, social media sites, old cell phones, and even Internet browsers getting hacked left and right, Facebook announcing ramped-up plans to sell user information, and the separation between private and public life continuing to erode, can the public be blamed for losing trust in businesses and their ability to properly handle the data we hold sacrosanct?

A Gallup poll conducted in June delivered revealing results that nearly all of us can relate to (particularly the part about how, “In an increasingly insecure world, consumers need all the data security friends they can get”):

• 37% of the public reported that their trust in the companies they regularly do business with had “decreased a little” or “a lot” over the past year.

When you think of disaster preparedness, what comes to mind first? Boarding up in advance of a hurricane? Hunkering down in the face of a tornado? Cleaning up after a flash flood? Thawing out after a killer blizzard?

Depending on what part of the country you live in, natural disasters can mean vastly different things.

Last month, CMIT Solutions reported on the threat of the CryptoLocker ransomware virus, which asymmetrically encrypts data with a public and private key and then demands payment for decryption.

One drawback of a timid hurricane season like 2013’s is that the critical importance of remote backup, disaster recovery (DR), and business continuity (BC) plans tend to recede from the spotlight.

If recent system crashes plaguing major international corporations like Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and the NASDAQ stock exchange tell us anything, it’s that redundant data backup and disaster recovery is more important than ever.