The 3 Most Common Causes of Data Loss in 2022

Data loss is no joke. For every minute a company doesn’t have access to its data, it costs companies $1,467. That’s $88k per hour. Most companies don’t have that kind of cash to burn. And even if they do, who wants to waste that kind of money? In order to protect your business from data loss, it’s important to understand what causes data loss. In today’s blog, Prodatix explains the most common causes of data loss.

3 Common Causes of Data Loss

According to Veeam’s 2022 Data Protection report, the three most common causes of data loss are technology malfunction, human error, and cybersecurity events. Let’s look at each of these more closely.

Technology Malfunction

The most common cause of data loss is technology malfunction. Essentially, stuff breaks. That’s just a fact of life. Within the category of technology malfunction, there are several sub-categories that include both hardware and software issues. Below you’ll find a breakdown of different types of technology malfunctions and what percentage of companies experienced them.

• 57% of companies have experienced infrastructure/networking outage
• 54% of companies have experienced application software outage
• 55% of companies have experienced server hardware outage
• 50% of companies have experienced OS software outage
• 48% of companies have experienced an outage of public cloud resources
• 51% of companies have experienced storage hardware outage

Related post: The Ultimate Guide to Veeam Data Protection

Human Error

After technology malfunction, the second most common cause of data loss is human error. Unsurprisingly, humans are not perfect. It’s probably not a huge shock that employees, especially employees who don’t work in IT, make mistakes. It might be a bit more surprising to learn that database administrators are also responsible for a sizable portion of data loss. Check out the breakdown below. 

• 49% of companies have experienced accidental deletion, overwrite of data, or data corruption
• 46% of companies have experienced administrative configuration error 
• 38% of companies have experienced intentional disruption by an employee

Cybersecurity Events

The third most common cause of data loss is cybersecurity events. 51% of companies reported experiencing a cybersecurity event that led to data loss. The most common cybersecurity event companies experienced was a ransomware attack. Of those that have been attacked by ransomware: 

• 42% were acuated, meaning they clicked on a malicious link, often from a spam email
• 43% were due to a lack of due diligence from an administrator 

Although cybersecurity events are not as common of a cause of data loss as technology malfunction or human error, they are more impactful. By impactful, we mean that cybersecurity events cost companies more money and time than any other cause of data loss. And cybersecurity events are on the rise, which means they are only going to become a bigger problem for companies. 

Don’t Let Data Loss Cost You Time and Money

We know these statistics are scary, but there are things you can do to protect yourself from data loss. Our experts at Prodatix can help you protect, backup, and manage your data, so in the inevitable event of data loss, you can be back up and running quickly. Contact us online or give us a call today for a free consultation.