Some high-tech risks require high-tech responses. Others call for more common-sense measures. A well-considered, disciplined approach to computer security may be all that you need to significantly reduce risks to your computer system.

What does computer security mean? From a business point of view, computer security simple means that your computer systems will function and your stored information on your computer system will be available to you as needed for your business.

Hardware Failure

Precautions can be taken to protect against certain risks such as: theft, breakage, power surges, voltage fluctuation, outages, and disasters including fire, flood and other unthinkable catastrophes. Maintenance agreements provide fast and reliable service in event of equipment breakdown.

Extra equipment provides in-house backup for uninterrupted service until repairperson arrives. Many firms buy inexpensive mail-in or carry-in maintenance and maintain extra hardware to swap in as needed. For example, they keep one backup printer for every five printers in use and one backup PC for every 20, depending, of course, on age and reliability of hardware. Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)-equipped servers and duplicate or backup servers can add redundancy and reduce risk of being shut down by equipment failure.

The quality of low-cost computer or server "clones" may be significantly lower than that of brand-name systems. Extremely low-cost systems often are made with whatever less costly components are available at moment. Such components may be inherently less reliable, and compatibility of specific components used may not be rigorously tested.

Regular backups, with at least a weekly copy of backed-up data kept off-site are, of course, a necessity and most effective way to minimize data loss when inevitable hardware breakdowns occur.

Careful disaster planning is more crucial than ever to assess risks and damage of catastrophic system failure and implementation of appropriate disaster recovery resources. Full duplicate off-site systems including servers, data and communications links may be necessary to assure continuation of service without interruption in event of catastrophic disaster. Such redundancy can be farmed-out to a local firm that specialist in backup and safe storage of your critical computer system data. Generally, expense of full-system redundancy often is unnecessary for small businesses. For you, as long as none of your stored data is lost, restoring your system functions within several hours or even several days may be tolerable.

Software Failure

HIPAA. Perhaps one of most significant laws in recent memory; certainly one of most complex. While this short article won't make anyone an expert, it will, hopefully, demystify this wide ranging set of laws and put you on path towards compliance.

First, let's answer question; "What is HIPAA?" HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Protection Act of 1996. Although it purports to regulate health insurance, HIPAA provisions extend far beyond insurance. HIPAA introduced broad disclosure and privacy requirements. It also established civil and criminal penalties for each violation (up to $25,000 per person per year in civil penalties and up to $250,000 in criminal fines - along with imprisonment).

Title I of HIPAA deals with portability and special enrollment rights for health plans. Those conditions must have been incorporated into your plans by now (original compliance date was 1997). Title II of HIPAA governs a wide ranging set of conditions called, "Administrative Simplification". For those charged with compliance, notion that HIPAA simplifies anything qualifies as "dark humor". Administrative simplification attempts to create a uniform system for processing and retention of health information and ensuring security of that information.