A very basic introduction to data storage and protection produced by the stonemasonry team at City of Glasgow College

1. Information Communication Technology
Guide to Data Storage and Protection
Stonemasonry Department 2012

2. What is data?
Data is a collection of unanalysed facts, number or statistics stored
on your computing device. This data is organised by the processors
in your computing device to become information.
Data Information
Processor
100% 2012
95% The average assessment
89% result for 2012 was 85%.
54%
100%
62%
92%
assessment result
Data becomes information when it is organised into ways in which it can
be used.

3. Do you input data?
As a computer user you input information which the computer
processes and stores as data. Can you think of examples of
information you may input?
To keep things simple
your computer stores all Video
Movies
information in the same
Documents
way; by breaking it down Pictures
into small packages of Music
data and storing it on the Photographs
computers memory

4. How is Data Stored on a PC?
On a personal computer, data is stored by the computers memory. It
is broken down into very small packages of data known as bytes. As
bytes are so small we talk about 1000’s of bytes (kilobytes), millions
of bytes (megabytes) and even billions of bytes (gigabytes).
Size of Memory Prefix Number of bytes
bit 8 bits = 1 byte
byte 1 byte
Kilobyte KB 1000 bytes
Megabyte MB 1 million bytes
Gigabyte GB 1 billion bytes
Terabyte TB 1 trillion bytes
The table above shows the standard data measurement system used
by most computer systems.*
*Based on standard SI decimal system – binary system operates on factors of 1024

5. Back-up Your Data
When a computer is functioning properly your data is held safely on
the internal hard drive, packaged in small bytes and ready to be
accessed. However there are a number of ways your data can
become corrupted e.g virus, power surge, mechanical failure
accidental/malicious deletion.
Backup data stored
in central storage
location
Data held on
personal
computer in
office
Second backup data
stored offsite in
secure location
It is considered best practice to back-up your data in at least two
different physical locations. This means that you copy the data from
your machine to removable storage device and store that device in a
different building/room than the original.

6. Forms of Physical Storage
There are three main forms of physical storage currently available to
consumers in the UK; magnetic, optical and solid state.
Magnetic
Optical
Solid State
The table above shows examples of physical storage devices in
common use.
Images sourced from wikipedia and made available under cc license

7. Web Based File Hosting
In addition to using physical storage devices it is possible to make use
of web based file hosting services where an external company stores
your files on large remote servers. Most of these companies allow
you to store a small amount of data for free and offer subscriptions
based on capacity usage.
The disadvantages of this method of data storage are that you need
an active internet connection to upload and/or access your data and
you no longer have complete control of the security of your data.
Images property of dropbox, google, microsoft and apple and used only for educational purposes

8. Protecting Data
Now that your data is safely stored and backed-up you should look at
ways of protecting it. Data theft generates billions of pounds
worldwide each year as computer hackers gain access to sensitive
information such as banking and credit card details, payroll
information and internet passwords.
You should password protect any electronic data and keep physical
storage devices in lockable storage at all times. Sensitive data may
also be encrypted.

9. Generating an Effective Password
There are a number of tips to generating an effective password:
Avoid using your name, date of birth or family members names
Avoid using the name of the sports club you support
Use a combination of lower case, upper case, numbers and symbols
Never under any circumstances share your password
dougie2012 Weak password
dm2012dm!! Good password
Dx3&t58rby5 Strong password
Never write your password down where it can be seen or accessed
Avoid entering your password on un-trusted machines
Change your password on a regular basis (every 30-90 days)
Change your password immediately if you suspect it has been compromised
Avoid using the same password for a number of different applications

10. Using Security Software
Another vital aspect of keeping data secure is running security
software on all computers you use to store or access data. This
software protects against malware such as viruses, trojans, general
spyware and keylogger’s and ensures that your computer does not
become compromised.
You can download a number of free security software applications
from the internet (make sure they are genuine) or pay for premium
subscription based software. It is good practice to use this software
to regularly scan your machine for viruses.
Images property of symatec, kaspersky and avg and are used only for educational purposes

11. References
The image on the title slide of this presentation was sourced from
and remains the property of:
http://paolatubaro.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/dataprocessing.j
pg
The image on the title slide of this presentation was sourced from :
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2919245129_276a62a19d.jpg
And was made available under creative commons license

12. Developed by The Stonemasonry Department
City of Glasgow College
2012