Data loss peaks during the summer months — for businesses and individuals alike — according to information management firm Kroll Ontrack. Engineers at Ontrack Data Recovery have also found that requests for data recovery increased by a whopping 12% between the second and third quarters during June to August.

While studying the effect of the summer months on data loss, we found that it strongly correlated to an increase in data security jobs in the past year. That may be welcome economic news but it also strongly correlates with the need for more data security during summer.

While there are various causes to this data loss, here are the top seven to be aware of:

1. Natural disasters (i.e. hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, extreme heat)

2. Rolling blackouts and power outages from intense heat and extreme power usage

3. Seasonal distraction by outdoor activities, also known as “Spring Fever”

4. Heat damage to portable devices, typically from laptops left in hot cars

5. Failure to cover vacationing staff shifts leaving fewer people to manage server and infrastructure problems

6. Side-effects of summer downtime maintenance

7. Gaps in IT processes that don’t account for any of the above six causes

While some of these causes may be unavoidable to the human touch, there are several ways to combat company crippling data loss, including:

1. Adjust the temperatures and humidity controls in rooms with servers and computers to ensure they do not overheat or or acquire static electricity issues.

2. Continue with regular IT processes and training requirements even during the summer months

3. Upload data to the cloud where it will never be affected by heat and humidity (or we should hope it won’t)

4. Always use a surge protector on electrical equipment in case of a power outage, blackout, storm, etc.

5. Keep all hardware off the ground in case of a flood

6. Turn equipment off when possible to keep it cool and electricity usage down

7. Have a backup plan in place (backups should occur once a month at least, but once a week is highly suggested)

Number seven may be one of the most important ones (and no we’re not trying to toot our own horn on this). Regardless of what happens on premise,  you can ensure that you always have a replicate of your data when needed. Data loss can be crippling to a company and make you cringe at the thought of it. Don’t let another day go by without ensuring that both the data on your computer and in the cloud are backed up safely in case of any point of failure during these excruciatingly hot summers.