Gilmore Services Blog https://www.gilmoreservices.com/blog/topic/data-destruction

With identity theft more prevalent than ever and more and more companies going fully digital, the risk of customer data getting into the wrong hands is even higher. Most companies have good security, but they don't think about letting data on old hard drives getting into criminals' hands. 

It's tax season again, which means that you should go through your tax files and shred documents that you no longer have to keep.

You might not even think of it, but you have tons of confidential information on your computer, phone, tablet, external hard drives, USB drives and other digital media.

Data protection is a priority for small businesses. A single data breach can cost thousands of dollars in revenue and do irreparable damage to your company’s reputation.

One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting changes to our working environments has been maintaining HIPAA compliance when treating patients remotely.

We’ve all had to adjust to a new reality thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the biggest changes has been that many of us are now working from our homes.

Are you worried about identity theft? If you’re not, then you should be – at least a little. It’s important to take precautions to protect your personal data from hackers and thieves.

It’s easier than ever to save digital information. Most of us have thousands of files between our email inboxes, cloud storage, social media sites, and our phones. And while it can seem like a good idea to save everything “just in case,” the opposite may be true.

Does your company have valuable proprietary information stored on your hard drives? A lot of businesses store important information, including client records, data, product research and more on hard drives on their premises.

The holiday shopping season is here and it’s important to consider security when you pull out your credit card to buy gifts.

Is your business bound by HIPAA, FACTA or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations? If so, then you have a legal responsibility to maintain accurate records and destroy them according to the timetables specified by the law.

Data destruction is in the news frequently – and for good reason! It seems that hardly a month goes by without a new story about a major data breach. In some cases, these breaches are the result of poor security. And in others, the issue is improper destruction of data.

What should you do with business hard drives you’re no longer using? That’s an important question to ask – and answering it incorrectly can lead to significant risks down the line.

As more businesses turn to paperless documents and storage, it’s essential to have a plan for managing e-waste. You need to protect your valuable data, but you also need to figure out how to properly dispose of electronics that you’re no longer using.

Do you have a data destruction schedule for your business? Even if you’re not bound by regulations such as HIPAA and FACTA, you still have a responsibility to your clients to protect their information and destroy it properly.

Once tax season is over, many businesses take the opportunity to review their document retention schedules and destroy hard drives and documents they no longer need. It’s a good time to do it and allows you to ensure that you’re in compliance with regulations and best practices.

Destroying a hard drive isn’t as easy as you might think. Even data on a drive that’s been severely damaged can sometimes still be retrieved. That’s a scary thought if your organization needs to destroy data in accordance with HIPAA or FACTA regulations.

Security is important for every organization. It’s common for business to have systems in place to store and destroy their important documents and data according to regulatory requirements. But, even if you’re doing everything right when it comes to document destruction, you might still be leaving yourself at risk in other ways.

What goes into destroying a computer hard drive? The truth is that the security of computer hard drive destruction is far more important than you might think. Erasing files can still leave them vulnerable to retrieval. Physically destroying your hard drives provides ultimate protection of your valuable data.

Are you taking care to properly destroy the hard drives where you store sensitive business information? A surprising number of businesses are not, and it cost them. The average business data breach in the United States costs $7.9 million dollars in lost revenue and eroded trust.

When they are kept too long or stored insecurely, your business documents and media can become more of a liability than an asset. In fact, improper destruction of data is a common mistake and it can be a costly one.

Dealing with your company’s valuable data requires care and attention. It’s your responsibility to safeguard your clients’ privacy and adhere to any regulations that apply to the storage and destruction of the data you collect.

Regardless of your industry, data breaches are a serious threat. Your data (and data you store on behalf of your clients) is vulnerable to attack. It’s your job to do whatever you can to protect it.

You swear you saved that .GIF to your hard drive for a reason — you know, that one of the cat playing checkers — but newly refreshed in the New Year you just can’t remember why.

All good things must come to an end, and business information is no exception.

Even if destroying physical and electronic information isn’t at the top of your priority list, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Destruction is a crucial part of the information lifecycle, which protects against fraud, identity theft and ensures security of business and client interests.

Why partner with a shredding company when you can just buy a shredder yourself? I mean, document destruction is as easy as grabbing some files, putting them through the shredder and calling it day, right? Well, not exactly.

As your business grows, a filing cabinet is often not enough to contain all of your important records. Threats like theft, prying eyes and environmental dangers like mold or water damage can seriously harm your important documents and put your business at risk.

Packing a storeroom with boxes or renting a storage unit may seem like an easy fix, but is it the best way to keep your important records, and business, safe?  

As a small business owner or office manager, you take security seriously. Following a retention schedule and destroying documents when the time is right are just two ways you can protect your business and your customers from identity theft and other crimes. But, these steps are also critical to remaining compliant with federal, state, and local laws.

The rapid development of technology means the road to obsolescence is shorter than ever. While many businesses wait for computers to break down before replacing them, that’s not always the most efficient policy. Once computers start to slow down, productivity and employee morale begin to suffer.

Protecting your business’s data is critical to the continued health of your company. Financial and employee records, and other proprietary data stored on hard drives needs to be protected whether that data has reached the end of its lifecycle or not.