Data security remains a top priority for many organisations today. A lack of it can not only leave a business exposed to data theft or reputational damage but could also attract penalties and fines as a result of a lack of compliance with data protection laws. Crucially, when protecting your business data, it’s important to focus both on digital data and any that is being physically generated on a day-to-day basis.
Physical management is a necessary and important part of any comprehensive data strategy. Risks can be high where physical data is not being carefully managed and the consequences of this range from fines for breach of regulations such as the GDPR to long-lasting reputational damage. Particularly if you’ve invested time and effort in ensuring that your digital information is being properly and securely processed it’s essential to apply this same approach to physical data too.
Confidential healthcare records are incredibly sensitive documents in data terms. That’s why they are increasingly being targeted by thieves and hackers. In fact, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office, in one year there were more data breaches in the healthcare sector than any other. Medical identity theft is increasingly becoming a problem in the UK – personal details can be used to fake prescriptions and acquire medication that can be sold illegally, for example.
Data protection has risen to the top of the agenda in the past couple of years. Thanks to regulatory change, such as the GDPR, it’s now more important than ever before for businesses to implement secure processes for data handling. Physical documents and files present a serious risk of data breach if not properly processed and disposed of – for many organisations avoiding such a situation means ensuring documents are shredded once they are no longer required.
There has been a significant decline in the number of organisations managing shredding in-house in recent years. As a result of the tightening up of privacy regulations and the need to better manage data, large numbers of businesses have now switched to working with a professional shredding partner for peace of mind. However, some still handle shredding in-house and there are a number of issues that can arise for those who are attempting to do this.
The idea of personal identity theft is fairly well embedded today but business identity theft, less so. Any organisation can be vulnerable to business identity theft, whether large or small, if it is unprotected. This will involve another individual or entity impersonating the business, which could have a negative impact on an enterprise’s reputation and clients. It’s essential to take steps to protect your business if you don’t want to end up a victim.
‘Data’ seems to be the buzzword these days. It’s something that every business generates and collects a lot of, whether it belongs to customers, clients or the business itself. That data can create a lot of issues if it isn’t properly disposed of and a paper shredding service is really the only way to ensure that happens. Working with a shredding service can also help to improve the efficiency and social responsibility of your business too.
Every school, college or university today has a range of responsibilities to fulfil when it comes to keeping data safe. Compliance with regulation, such as the GDPR, is an essential part of the process and applies just as much to educational institutions as it does to business organisations. There can be severe consequences for schools, colleges and universities that don’t take data protection seriously, not just in terms of the fines that can result from a lack of legal compliance but reputational damage too.
In the legal sector, perhaps more than any other, there is a very specific need for data security. The way confidential information is held and managed can have a big impact on whether clients feel able to trust their advisors – and the consequences of sensitive data falling into the wrong hands can be severe. The way that law firms deal with data is essential, not just when it is in digital form but physical documents too – that’s why a comprehensive approach to paper and document shredding is so essential.
Secure shredding has become a key process for any business today. However, for accounting and financial sector enterprises it’s particularly essential. Inadvertently obtained financial data, whether it is lost or stolen, can do huge reputational damage and there are some significant regulatory consequences for failing to ensure minimum quality standards when it comes to document disposal. So, for any organisation operating in this sector, it’s important to ensure that existing shredding processes have the following covered.
