Five Industries that Need Professional Data Destruction Services

The Importance of Secure Data Destruction for Organisations

Every organisation must have in place some method of securely disposing of redundant IT assets. For small businesses, it might be simply performing a secure wipe of an old hard drive or mobile phone before recycling it. In large corporations where perhaps thousands of devices are constantly rotating in and out of the IT asset inventory, more scrutiny and higher levels of security are required.

Sometimes, all it takes is a savvy hacker accessing a discarded hard drive to access dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of sensitive data records. Going about a cyberattack in such a way might require a lot less effort than a frontal assault on the network, so having your organisation’s IT assets securely destroyed is a sensible way of closing off this point of access to any would-be cybercriminals.

Below are five industries that need professional data destruction services:

1.   Healthcare & Medical

Medical records are highly sensitive and hospitals, clinics, and physicians all rely on secure access to patient records for providing accurate and essential assistance to patients. Any disruption to a hospital’s IT infrastructure can result in delayed treatment or even death in the event of emergencies, so it stands to reason that there should be absolutely no unauthorised access permitted.

For example, the HSE ransomware attack in May 2021 that occurred in Ireland crippled the medical IT systems across the country. In the RTE article, Mr Reid stated that the cyberattack was focused on accessing data held on central servers.

Data Centre Services from an ITAD Company such as Wisetek are therefore essential for secure data destruction of data centre IT assets.

2.   Finance & Banking

Banking institutions and financial lenders rely on accurate and up-to-date data and records on their clients. For example, Visa processes nearly 1,700 transactions per second, all including sensitive data about the time and date of the transaction, credit card details, customer name, and so on.

Since financial institutions deal with highly sensitive data, they must ensure that they have a secure Data Destruction policy in place to mitigate risk.

3.   Government & Institutional

The various agencies and institutions of the public sector all hold sensitive data on residents and citizens that should never fall into the wrong hands. Depending on the jurisdiction(s) where your organisation operates, government agencies may hold compartmentalised data such as tax returns, driving license details, property ownership, business licensing, and more. For public schools and universities, this could also include a vast array of sensitive data on students and faculty.

In the UK, a surge in ransomware attacks has given the impulse to tech giants and the UK National Crime Agency to assemble the Ransomware Task Force (RTF). Schools and hospitals have become the prime targets in recent years, further stressing the need for secure data destruction and top-notch network cybersecurity.

4.   Manufacturing & Industrial

The production of various goods in manufacturing plants is often put at severe risk from data breaches. Trade secrets, patented technologies, and competitive advantages can all be compromised by an individual gaining unauthorised access to a discarded hard drive, for example. Hard Drive Disposal is one of the core services of an ITAD provider such as Wisetek.

Although this can be bad enough on its own for producers of commercial goods, compromising the data from industrial centres producing aerospace or military technologies can be a grave national security concern.

5.   Retail & Commerce

Similarly, the retail and commercial trade sectors must ensure that all sensitive data on their discarded IT assets is thoroughly destroyed in order to protect trade secrets and maintain whatever competitive advantage the organisation may have.

Moreover, retail and e-commerce platforms often deal with large customer lists, sometimes containing sensitive information such as credit card details or home addresses. IT Asset Disposition is therefore essential for ensuring that this data does not fall into the wrong hands.

All Industries Benefit from Secure Data Destruction

Although the above sectors require data destruction due to the highly sensitive nature of the data they tend to deal with, there are many other organisations that should consider ITAD as a part of their data protection and risk management strategies. Law firms and the judicial branch of government, for example, must exercise extreme caution with client and case details.

When it comes to choosing an ITAD provider for your organisation, it is therefore important to choose a company that is reputable and a global leader in secure ITAD. It’s also important to choose one that reduces e-waste and promotes sustainability, which is why Wisetek operates a Circular Economy model and is committed to a Zero-Landfill Policy. Many of the IT assets processed by Wisetek’s sustainable processes are remarketed on the Wisetek Store.

For more information, please contact enquiries@wisetek.net or visit our website.

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