Good evening, and thanks again for making us your #1 choice for World News! And now for our top story tonight: Data Corruption: What does it mean to you?
Reports of data corruption have seen an increase over the past several weeks across the globe, with concerned citizens reporting 'glitched' or 'corrupted' files on computers, phones, and even PETs in several countries. As the rate of this phenomenon increases, people want to know: Is my data safe? Why is this happening to me? What can I do to stay protected? We asked these questions-- and more-- of Scilab researcher Adrian Parleski.
News Server: People have been worried about the recent reports of Data Corruption that people have been experiencing across the globe. Do you know why this is happening?
Parleski: Scilab has been working round-the clock on finding an answer to this issue, and we are planning to release a patch to the general public very shortly that we believe will combat the problem.
NS: Fantastic! What exactly does the patch do, Ms. Parleski?
Parleski: I can't give out the exact details right now, as the patch is still being worked on, but I can say that it aims to fix a small bug in the way the affected software stores and reads data that we believe has been causing the corruption.
NS: That's great. In the meanwhile, what can people do to protect their data?
Parleski: Keeping backups of everything would be my personal advice. If you would be doomed without an important piece of data or an important file, then you should make backups of it on multiple devices and types of storage media. That way even if one device or storage type is affected, you still have another backup.
NS: Very sound advice Ms. Parleski! Would you happen to know why certain devices are affected by the problem while others are not? We tested several copies of devices that have been reported to be affected in our studio, and yet sometimes only one out of a set of three would have a problem, while in other cases none or even all of them experienced the issue. Any thoughts on that?
Parleski: I couldn't say anything for certain aside from what I've told you already-- but I believe that is probably due to the luck of the draw. The bug we have pinned down and are currently in the process of patching happens at random, which is why we didn't catch it before it made its' way to our customers. Some systems will never be affected by the bug, while for some it is a crippling problem. It's simply hard to tell what systems it will or won't hit. At least, until the patch hits. Then there won't be any! [Laughs]
NS: [Laughs]
NS: Well, we won't take up any more of your time. Thank you for answering the people's questions, Ms. Parleski.
Parleski: Any time.