There is a lot of paranoia surrounding the way that businesses use data in the modern world. Many people struggle to understand the way that online information works, and the idea of a large company like Google or Microsoft having access to your crucial information is quite unpleasant. Thankfully, though, the world’s largest tech companies work extremely hard to protect your data and honour your rights, and this means that there isn’t much to worry about. To settle your mind, though, this article will be exploring the way that most large companies store their customer’s data.
Data Law & Policies
While a company like Google may be able to store your data on their servers, this doesn’t mean that they are allowed to look at it. Privacy laws around the world prevent companies that host large amounts of data from using this power against their customers, and this means that the data you store with large companies is usually extremely safe. Internal policies also help with this, with employees being trained to respect the data that they have to handle.
Protecting Data
It makes sense that large companies would be hesitant to show off their data storage facilities, especially when they are such a big target for criminals. Alongside strong encryption, companies like Google have loads of lines of defence for the data they store, and many of these are physical. Large data centres are built like prisons, ensuring that only those who are authorised to go inside are able to access any of the data within. As time goes on, the software these companies use is also getting much better at protecting data.
Hardware & Redundancy
If you’ve ever had a computer for more than a decade or so, you will have probably had a hard drive fail on you. These storage devices are robust, but the constant use that they see in data centres can put huge amounts of strain on them. Server hard drives are much stronger and well-made than those consumers will usually use, while also being better for use in applications like Raid arrays. Redundant hard drives are also used, enabling them to keep data online when other drives fail.
Data Destruction
Destroying digital data is incredibly difficult, especially when you’re using tools like hard drives for storage. A magnetic image of the data is always left behind, and this means that companies like Google need to go to extreme lengths to destroy data that isn’t required anymore. Special machines help with this process, crushing and grinding drives into a fine dust that can be disposed of without any chance of revealing customer data.
It’s easy to understand why people would feel unhappy with their data being shared with impunity. Thankfully, though, the biggest tech companies in the world make their money from the data they store, and this means that they don’t want to do anything to upset those that own it. As long as you follow proper digital hygiene tips, you should be able to keep your data safe indefinitely.
