Identity theft has remained the fastest growing crime in America for years.
Hard drives are a major electronic resource that can tear a business apart if they fall into the wrong hands. Without taking secure steps for hard drive disposal, company files (like Social Security numbers and financial records) are easily accessible. The financial burden and corporate chaos that results from not performing safe data destruction can be avoided.
Failing on data destruction can lead to fines
A Hewlett-Packard Financial Services survey found more than 65% of executives with purchasing authority are unaware of the potential fines they can face for improper disposal of electronics. Businesses are required by law to properly destroy hard drives in order to maintain the highest levels of security.
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allows fines up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison for each violation of patient health information privacy rules.
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act imposes penalties of up to $100,000 per violation by financial institutions.
Data destruction services have an obligation to their clients: the secure destruction of your confidential information.
4 things to know about securely destroying hard drives:
- Destroying hard drives doesn’t simply involve deleting the files. Like the old rule of posting anything online—just because you hit delete doesn’t mean the file isn’t still floating around somewhere.
- Hard drives need to be tracked from the time they’re picked up to when the data shredding takes place. Transporting items in locked containers are monitored from the moment they’re picked up to when they arrive at a hard drive destruction service’s secured area.
- An accredited information disposal company should provide a certificate of destruction. You should always be given proof of a securely destroyed hard drive.
- Never, never, never re-sell. The money you could make from re-selling a hard drive is not worth the chance of your secure information getting revealed. Data shredding is the only solution to securely destroy hard drives.
Contact us for safe data destruction and secure destruction of your hard drives. We are dedicated to the complete, safe destruction of hard drives and other electronic media. We leave nothing to chance.
