Consequences of Improper Data Destruction

Is your organisation handling data properly? When faced with this question, most business owners and managers often overlook the critical role of data destruction. With so much data generated through organisation engagements, proper data destruction gains prominence more than ever before. Consider what happens to the data in your organisation when you no longer need it or when you have to dispose of end-of-life hardware.

To appreciate the importance of proper data destruction, consider that data is one of the most valuable assets in the modern organisation. For instance, any business financial information, clients’ personal data, legal agreements, intellectual property information and other such sensitive materials are at the core of the successful operations in your organisation.

For such a sensitive asset, data requires careful handling at all stages of use. When you no longer need the data, consider the best destruction method to ensure it’s not in usable format.

This post highlights the devastating consequences of improper data destruction and guides you on the best procedures to do it right.

Loss of Brand Reputation

To appreciate how devastating data loss can be, consider a large health service provider which wants to destroy old computers in its headquarters. Such electronic devices contain sensitive data which unauthorised people can easily access. If such machines are not professionally destroyed, clients’ health records, personal data and other information might be accessed illegally.

When such data loss news goes public, brands lose their credibility and reputation, which they have taken long to build. Existing clients can withdraw their services while potential ones will keep away for fear of losing their personal data.

Branding is one of the toughest tasks in building a successful business and all your efforts can come crashing down in a day because of improper data destruction. Sometimes, businesses can collapse because of the bad press that ensues after data loss incidents.

As the magnitude of the data breach becomes apparent, more customers walk away and you find it even harder to find partners in your promotional campaigns. The cost of rebuilding the damaged brand eats into your revenues and if you’re not successful, the business sinks with time.

To avoid such eventualities, look for reliable data erasure services to help in data destruction. This protects your business by ensuring there’s no data breach arising from the data destruction process.

Hefty Compliance Fines/Penalties

Over the last three decades, governments across the world have instituted stringent regulatory standards on data management. Now that most organisations including public offices, are digital, the risk of data breaches is even greater.

Data breaches can cause devastating harm to both your organisation and its stakeholders. For this reason, there are strict compliance guidelines which you have to comply with. Failure to property destroy data can lead to loss of such information which might end up in the wrong hands. Your organisation might end up facing lawsuits resulting in hefty fines and penalties.

The severity of the breach determines how big the fine is and this can go up to millions of dollars. Such penalties can debilitate your organisation. To avoid such devastation, partner with an established data destruction expert such as SPW data erasure services. These services undergo stringent audits to ensure they meet certain standards before certification.

Also Read: Practical Hacks To Improve User Experience For WordPress Database

Repeat Data Breaches

As you grapple with the data loss emanating from an improper data destruction process, you have to appreciate the risk of further data breaches. Hackers rely on every bit of information illegally acquired to gain entry into your systems for a long time to come.

If you were in the process of overhauling your servers for instance and you didn’t properly destroy the hardware, there’s a lot of information that might end up in the wrong hands. Hackers can use such data to continue system attacks for a long time.

When you work with a professional data destruction company, these professionals first audit what’s to be disposed of. They appreciate the sensitivity of the data and the volume. Every client gets a tailored data destruction package to suit their needs. There’s reduced risk of data loss in the process because you have experts handling the process.

 Financial Losses

Improper destruction of data can lead to financial loss if you lose details related to your company’s finances. For instance, any data in your hardware or paper trial can be used by hackers for identity theft or for other fraud cases.

Businesses lose a lot of money through fraud every year due to poor data management processes. The last thing you want is for someone to wipe out your bank accounts because of shoddy data destruction.

Final Thoughts

Data destruction is often overlooked when it comes to data and records management. To protect your organisation, appreciate the consequences of data loss in the data destruction process. Work with a professional data destruction company to protect your data even at its end of life.