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Secure Hard Drive Disposal: Minimising Data Breach Risks with ZircoSHRED

1 August, 2022By

In our increasingly digital world, the use of digital storage methods like hard drives has surged, particularly with the growing prevalence of hybrid work environments. Despite this surge, many businesses neglect to dispose of their hard drives securely, which can lead to severe consequences down the road. Employing a reliable hard disk destruction service can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches and their subsequent fallout.

Escalated Risk of Data Breaches

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the likelihood of data breaches has risen, as opportunistic individuals sought to exploit vulnerabilities. In Australia alone, data breaches have spiked by a staggering 712% since 2018, with sectors such as health services, finance, legal, education, and personal services bearing the brunt of these incidents[1].

Given that the average data breach in Australia incurs a cost exceeding $3 million, safeguarding confidential data becomes imperative for all Australian businesses[2]. Unfortunately, some businesses fall into the trap of assuming that recycling hard drives after wiping or deleting their contents suffices for security. However, this approach proves inadequate. Determined individuals seeking to compromise your data will find ways to do so if your organi sation does not adopt the proper precautions and security procedures. Therefore, developing a robust data security policy and collaborating with a leading information security company like ZircoSHRED can help fortify your data’s security.

Data Security Policy

A comprehensive data security policy ensures data integrity before permanently destroying and shredding hard drives with your chosen hard drive shredding service. This policy equips employees with the necessary guidelines for safeguarding information stored on their hard drives and other digital media[3]. Key components of a data security policy include:

1. Regular Password Updates: This extends to passwords used on personal devices like mobile phones and laptops, as well as office equipment such as printers and scanners.

2. Data Encryption: Encrypting data renders information sent to or from your devices indecipherable to third parties without access to the passwords, thus safeguarding your data.

3. Incident Reporting: Employees should be informed about when and how to report errors, with the assurance that they will not face penalties for doing so.

As part of your business’s data security policy, it is crucial that you and your employees refrain from simply recycling hard drives once they are no longer needed. Although recycling may appear environmentally friendly, it exposes your business, employees, and customers to vulnerabilities. After fulfilling data security requirements and complying with relevant GDPR and data retention periods, it is appropriate to engage a trusted hard drive shredding service.

ZircoSHRED’s Hard Drive Destruction Service

Confidential data remains secure only when hard drives undergo secure and effective destruction and shredding. Secure hard disk destruction significantly reduces the risk of data breaches. ZircoSHRED offers businesses a secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly hard drive shredding service designed exclusively for the destruction of hard drives to render data irretrievable and unreconstructable. Only through complete physical destruction can the permanent obliteration of your digital data be assured. Our Hard Drive Destruction Service provides peace of mind by reducing the likelihood of data breaches.

While hard drives typically serve as the primary medium for digital storage, data can also reside on other devices such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, zip disks, and USBs. Our Media Destruction Service assists businesses in ensuring the secure disposal and recycling of these alternative storage mediums without risking data breaches.

No business desires to navigate the turmoil of a data breach stemming from improper hard drive disposal. By leveraging either our secure hard disk destruction service or media destruction service, ZircoSHRED safeguards the security and integrity of your confidential data. Moreover, we ensure that electronic waste components are recycled through our partnerships, ensuring an environmentally friendly recycling process.

For further information on our Hard Drive and Media Destruction Services and how they can protect your business, employees, and customers, please contact us today.

Sources:

[1] Upguard

[2] Upguard

[3] Netwrix

Disclaimer:
This article is provided for your convenience and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should not take, or refrain from taking, actions based upon the content of this article. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Please seek professional legal advice.