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IIACKERS. viruses and natural Ildisasters get the headlines, but computerized data is also vulnerable to everyday accidents and human error. That's why every company should have-and use-a backup and recovery plan.

But nearly 4O% of smaller companies don't back up their data at all, experts say, and only 257o have a recovery plan in place. According to Hewlett Packard's 2005 Small Business Survey, only 23Vo of small businesses back up their data to a separate and secure off-site facility.

Many smaller companies see backup as costly and time consuming, but the cost of doing nothing-or not enough-can be high. Experts say 50Vo of small and mid-sized companies go out of business within three years if lost data can't be recovered within 24 hours.

Having a computer professional on the payroll helps, something that smaller companies usually can't afford. At Spenard Builders Supply, Anchorage, Ak., Mike Moberg is IT manager and oversees a staff of five. Under his direction, the lumberyard chain backs up computer data on a regular basis and has a disaster recovery program in place.

"What's unique about SBS is the remoteness of many of our locations," said Moberg. "Three of our yards are accessible only by plane and the rest, even though driveable, are still three to six hours away."

He said, "We don't have the luxury of metropolitan areas nearby, so we have to be prepared for not only a full system crash, but any number of other situations that might lead to hardware failure. Disaster recovery for these locations has its own set of opportunities. We try to be up to the task."

Nowadays. most businesses are totally dependent on computers: for online banking, payroll, accounting, customer data, vendor information, research and tax information. A simple and inexpensive solution is to download data to a CD every day and keep a copy offsite. If the CD is stored onsite, it could be destroyed with everything else.

Data can be e-mailed to a secure offsite location. such as another office or one of the many companies that will store data online for a monthly fee. Off-site backup is available at Hewlett Packard's small business protection site. "If you were hit yesterday by a disaster like Katrina," said HP's Lisa Wolfe, "you'd have your data up and accessible tomorrow."

If daily downloading or e-mailing seems like a chore. outside firms can help. Sean Kelly, technology manager at Williams and Nulle, a CPA firm in Mount Vernon. Wa.. oversees data ln $F lata 199{

New Jersey was sent to ilantrng a.log.ic bon rorls d€signsd td bl Ufeeks aftet he was, weeks after was fired. The attack cost the company $12 million, and 80 €rn$yss$,ry6f4id0fi

Ma*y such atta{k$ faq,bs ea$ily prevented, says Dawn Cappelli, a technology expert at Carnegie Mellon University's Computer fi mergency Response Team. The sams periodic scan that detects viru$ss can also detect most logic bombs.

Cappelli also advises companies to promptly disable the access of fired employees. Former employees with a high level of access to a company's network, she said, "know where the weaknesses are. lf something isn't as strong as it should be, they know it."

To keep someone from planting a virus on a co-worker's computer, educate employees on good password management: avoid easy-to-guess passwords, don't write them down or share them, and change them regularly management for the firm's clients. "We do have backup tape in more than one location in the county," he said. "Tape is good even if it is wet. If Mount Baker goes off, it might be different, but I guess we'd still have some time to prepare."

Diversint Inc., Mount Vernon, helps businesses improve their use of computer networks and preserve their daily computer records. "Our systems are on uninterrupted power supply," said Chris Crider, who handles sales and marketing. The company pays to store electronic files for themselves and their clients at FiberCloud in Bellingham, Wa., which has data centers throughout the Pacific Northwest.

"We go into a lot of new businesses and they have no backup of any type," said Crider. "You usually feel pretty safe if you have redundant hard drives or are set up for tape, but what are you going to do if they're damaged?" He said it can cost thousands of dollars to replace drives and data.

New software promises to take the guesswork out of deciding which files to back up and how often to download. Symantac's Norton Ghost 10.0 automatically copies the contents of an entire hard drive, ensuring that all files, folders, system settings and cus-