Data loss is an error condition in information systems in which information is destroyed by failures or neglect in storage, transmission, or processing. Information systems implement backup and disaster recovery equipment and processes to prevent data loss or restore lost data.
Data loss is distinguished from data unavailability, such as may arise from a network outage. Although the two have substantially similar effects, data unavailability is temporary, while data loss may be permanent. Data loss is also distinct from data spill, although the term data loss has been sometimes used in those incidents. Data loss incidents can, however, be also data spill incidents, in case media containing sensitive information is lost and subsequently acquired by another party. However, data spills are possible without the data being lost in the originating side.
Read more about Data Loss: Types of Data Loss, Cost of Data Loss, Organizational Responsibility, Prevention, Data Recovery, Steps To Be Taken After Data Loss
Famous quotes containing the words data and/or loss:
“This city is neither a jungle nor the moon.... In long shot: a cosmic smudge, a conglomerate of bleeding energies. Close up, it is a fairly legible printed circuit, a transistorized labyrinth of beastly tracks, a data bank for asthmatic voice-prints.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Eventually we will learn that the loss of indivisible love is another of our necessary losses, that loving extends beyond the mother-child pair, that most of the love we receive in this world is love we will have to share—and that sharing begins at home, with our sibling rivals.”
—Judith Viorst (20th century)