Why Freelance Graphic Developers Need to Prioritize Data Protection

I recently had a discussion with one of my friends from back in California. She has been a graphic designers and front end web designer for the past eight years. She recently ran into a serious problem with one of her customers. A virus infected one of her external storage devices, which spread to her laptop. This caused a lot of havoc and destroyed most of the files for this particular client. Most of her other files were untouched, but this client’s couldn’t be recovered.

She had spent 20 hours working on this project. The client also had insisted on a strict deadline, so she needed to do all the work from scratch and only had 48 hours to finish it. This meant that she needed to spend half of the hours over the next two days working to complete work that she had already done. This was all to recover work that she had already finished, but had failed to backup and protect.

The Cost of Not Protecting Data as a Graphic Developer

If she had invested in backing up and properly protecting her data, then she could have saved herself a lot of stress and $2,000 worth of billable hours. Other freelance graphic developers need to consider this too. They are not paid a salary, so if they lose data then it is going to come out of their own pocket. They may also be personally liable for a breach of contract if the data causes them to miss their deadlines. If any confidential data is leaked, then they may also be liable for those losses.

This means that the consequences of a data breach or data loss are much worse for freelance graphic designers than those working for a regular design company. They must make protecting it one of their top priorities.

Here are some ideas they should keep in mind.

Have a Data Recovery Application on Hand

You can take all possible steps to prevent data loss, but it might still happen. It is a good idea to have data recovery software that will help you recover data that has been destroyed. There are a lot of data recovery solutions, but one of the best for web developers is R-Studio for Mac. This one is great, because Mac systems are great for graphic design projects. Since they are so widely used by graphic designers, it is good for them to make sure that they have a data recovery tool for Mac devices.

Use a Cloud Backup Solution

Too many people rely on local backup options. This can be a solution if their server or hard drive is physically damaged. However, there are plenty of other instances where it will not work:

  • It won’t protect you if the entire area is hit by a natural disaster
  • It won’t protect against a virus that affects the whole network
  • It probably won’t help much with a burglary

A better option is to backup your data both locally and on the cloud. They both have their benefits. You will have a number of copies of your data stored, which will be easier to recover.

Always Use the Latest Malware Protection

Using the latest malware protection is very important. You also need to make sure that is reliable. Use a tool like McAffee, which is trusted and can update in real-time to respond to new threats.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.