Recycling Your IT

The Rise of Data Theft

2013-06-03

Due to the rise in Data Theft, which has increased and evolved over the years, we have noticed more and more businesses are holding onto hard drives for PC’s and / Servers. We recently came across a company which had been storing their hard drives for the last fifteen years. They accumulated approximately two hundred and thirty in all. Why? Because the directors where worried about data falling into the wrong hands.

Data Protection: what’s the problem?

By trying to avoid one problem, you could run into another. What most companies do not realise is that they are breaking the law holding onto IT kit. The seven key principals of GDPR are a fundamental building block for good data protection practice and is key to compliance within every organisation.

Failure to comply with GDPR principles may leave you open to substantial fines. Article 83(5)(a) states that infringements of the basic principles for processing personal data are subject to the highest tier of administrative fines.

Data Protection: what’s the solution?

There are different time scales for different sorts of data which needs to be destroyed. For example: accounts records should be six years plus the tax year you are in. Whatever the time, failure to comply with the act carries a minimum £500,000 fine. This fine was recently increased from £5000 to highlight the importance of data security.

Recycling Your IT can perform both on-site and off-site data destruction from your devices. We are registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) for data protection (No. PZ2793518) and licensed by the Environment Agency (EA) for data shredding. (No. EPR/GH0610YU/A001).