Could your business survive a $3.8 million loss? According to a recent IBM and Ponemon Institute study, its the avaerage data breach cost for a business.
This breaks down to $154 for each stolen client record containing sensitive, confidential information, such as social security numbers.
Your business may be able to recover from the financial loss. Will it recover from the loss of client confidence in your ability to protect their data?
Not all data breaches are equal.
Many think of data breaches as the derring-do of nefarious hackers; the most common breaches are due to simple human error.
A major source of data breaches is the accidental release of hard drives containing confidential information erased incorrectly or, on occasion, not erased.
And sometimes, even doing the right thing – hiring an e-cycler and entrusting them to destroy your data – can end horribly.
NHS Breach
Such was the case in 2012 when Great Britain’s National Health Service discovered that computers the NHS Surrey Trust had turned over to a data destruction vendor had instead been sold on Ebay.
The NHS was only alerted to the breach after one purchaser contacted them after discovering confidential medical and HR records on a computer he purchased from the site.
After retrieving the computer, the agency discovered confidential personnel records and medical records for 2,900 patients on the device.
The NHS later recovered 39 computers, ten of which contained confidential data.
Meanwhile, their data destruction provider was unable to provide any records detailing what happened to 1,570 computers turned over to them by the NHS for destruction. Many of these computers also contained extremely sensitive data.
The NHS had to pay fine of approximately $280,000 and close the Surry Trust. The eventual cost of the data breach to patients is as of yet unknown.
The NHS breach highlights the need for business and organizations to make sure they hire reputable and trusted data destruction partners for their most sensitive data.
Secure data destruction is serious business. Selecting a vendor to handle your data destruction can have serous, business-wide impact beyond the IT department.
However, choosing a reputable hard drive destroyer does not have to be difficult.
Phiston Technologies
Phiston Technologies offers a number of data destruction options to help your business avoid such costly – and embarrassing – disasters.
You can deliver your hard drives or other data media in person or send them by bonded courier to provide a clear chain of custody. So you can rest assure that your data arrives safely in our secure facility.
Once destroyed, Phiston will provide you with a Certificate of Destruction certifying that your data has been securely destroyed. You can choose to have your destroyed media sent to one of our recyclers. We can also return the debris to you for disposal.
We providie safe, secure media and hard drive destruction. In addition, we also have a staff of dedicated data security professionals who will work with you develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that you meet the highest standards for secure data destruction.
Contact us to see what we can do to help your business or organization ensure that your data is secure.
