Britons have more than a thousand photos stored on their smartphone – all of which are at risk of being lost forever because of laziness and digital confusion.
Research found that millions of Britons don't backup their pictures and of those who have no digital backup plan, a third say it's because they simply "can't be bothered" or they don't know how to.
The news comes as Britons claim they know protecting digital images is important and more than a third admit they have irreplaceable pictures of passed loved ones stored on their device, making the issue of data loss even more poignant.
The new research has been released by F-Secure, a global leader in cyber security experiences to mark World Backup Day this Friday (31 March). The findings also revealed that losing photos would have the biggest impact on Britons' lives, more than losing passwords, contacts and login details.
Timo Laaksonen, F-Secure CEO, says: "In today's digital age, people carry their memories, contacts, and important documents in their pockets. This collection of digital moments is crucial to our lives, yet we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to data loss, which makes no sense.
"World Backup Day is a reminder to take that extra step and protect our digital assets. While 59% of respondents in our survey said they think protecting their digital images is important, they're not doing it."
When asked what moments they capture digitally, Britons said holidays and travel were the most common, followed by personal pictures and shots of family and friends. The full list is:
- Holidays and travel
- Personal pictures
- Family and friends
- Children
- Passed loved ones
- Work material
- Health and fitness selfies
Timo Laaksonen, F-Secure CEO, concludes: "World Backup Day helps us raise awareness of the importance of data backup and protection and encourage people to take a pledge to back up their digital life, whether it's personal or professional. It is an opportunity to assess the value of the data that we carry around with us every day and to ensure that the data is protected."
To help Britons backup, F-Secure offers these five tips:
- Follow the 3-2-1 rule to backup – make at least three copies on two different devices, and one kept offline in a different location.
- If you backup your data to an external hard drive, disconnect it from your computer when a backup isn't being done. This will prevent your backup data being stolen or damaged along with your computer.
- If you're using an online cloud storage service, make sure you use a strong password and enable two-factor authentication (an identity and access management security method that requires two forms of identification to access resources and data to add an extra level of security to your data).
- Enable automatic backups or schedule regular backups so you don't have to remember to do it.
- Install cybersecurity to avoid malware (a term for any type of malicious software designed to harm or exploit any programmable device, service or network) from erasing your data/photos.
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