Protecting your brand: Stolen data from drives and media can hurt you
It’s important to have a system in place to destroy sensitive data onsite as soon as a device is retired or a hard drive fails. Drives filled with sensitive data that are left in accessible areas of a business are vulnerable to disgruntled employees as well as visitors.
IT Asset Decomissioning Policies: 7 Questions You Need to Ask
A decommissioning policy is important for many reasons. It helps you maintain compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. It creates an efficient process for your IT department, and most importantly it can save you from a costly data breach. Creating the policy can be difficult as there are many aspects that must be taken into consideration. Below are 7 things that should be considered when you are defining your company’s decommissioning policy:
The Cost of a Data Breach
A malicious attack (hacking, stealing, etc) can cost up to 25% more than a non-malicious attack. However, most data breaches occur due to the negligence from within the organization. This includes, the loss of a mobile device (cell phone, external hard drive), unsecured storage of retired computers, hard drives, and other data bearing devices. Here are a few examples of some recent data breaches that are a product of improper disposal and lost media devices.
The High Cost of "Free" Data Destruction
The High Cost of “Free” Data Destruction IT asset disposal made headlines around the world last week when the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined NHS Surrey £200,000 (about $300,000) over loss of secret data of more than 3,000 patients. According to the data watchdog, thousands of patient records were discovered on a second-hand NHS […]
Outsource your IT without risking your data and device security
Outsource your IT without risking your data and device security [vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]A 2013 Gartner report predicted the global IT outsourcing market to reach $288 billion, with Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Great China markets expanding more than 13 percent. In a recent article, Bryan Britz, Research Vice President at Gartner, said, “Enterprise buyers pursuing hybrid IT […]
Is your CEO criminally liable if discarded data devices aren’t clean?
Is your CEO criminally liable if discarded data devices aren’t clean? IT professionals are often frustrated by CEOs and corporate executives who don’t prioritize data security. This is frequently a case of priorities and personalities rather than rational decision making. Last week we wrote about corporate executives imprisoned for improper disposal of technology waste. This […]
Retiring point of sale terminals? Protect your data.
Retiring point of sale terminals? Protect your data. We’ve all been to the grocery store, tried to sign the screen for our credit card purchase, and watched as our careful signature is rendered as an illegible scrawl. In-store credit card terminals and point of sale (POS) terminals don’t last forever. But what happens when they […]
Patient data safety: Don’t leave it to the laundry department!
Patient data safety: Don’t leave it to the laundry department! Twice this spring, sensitive medical data from major New York hospitals were copied onto flash drives, exposing patient medical data to anyone who might find the drives. These were not spent server hard drives or sophisticated backup drives. These were simple flash drives — the […]
New HIPAA rules this month: Is your plan in place?
New HIPAA rules this month: Is your plan in place? The HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule is going into effect on Sept. 23, 2013, making enforcement of HIPAA violations and patient data breaches more intense. Violations can be more vigorously enforced and the punishments and fines promise to be more harsh and frequent. The main focus […]
OHSU violates its patients’ HIPAA rights.
OHSU violates its patients’ HIPAA rights. HIPAA violations are not taken lightly; whether it was your fault or not, your company could be held responsible for any data breach that compromises the private information of your customers. Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) found this out the hard way. OHSU had to notify over 3,000 […]