Data compliance is a growing concern for many businesses nationally. With more incidences of hacking and data breaches, the British public are increasingly aware of the need to keep their data secure, and businesses are under pressure to ensure that all confidential information is kept private.
Many security threats come from inside your company. Confidential information can get into the wrong hands where sufficient security procedures are not in place. Whether this is by accident through lack of data handling training, or intentional, there’s a number of ways that you can reduce this risk by increasing your in-house security measures.
Over time people are gradually becoming more aware of the impact that we have on our planet and our growing responsibility to protect it. Every one of us has a part to play in contributing to a green society and reducing waste. Many businesses incorporate environmental sustainability into the ethos and values of their companies, and want to deal with waste in the most helpful way.
Shredding of secure documents is a vital part of the security of every company, especially those dealing with large amounts of sensitive financial data. It is a legal requirement that all financial records are destroyed sufficiently once no longer needed, meaning that this is a priority for all banks, insurance providers, building societies, investment firms and other financial organisations.
In general, public sector organisations process a higher volume of information that the private sector on a daily basis. With so much data passing through the system, if the right security measures are not in place, there could be significantly damaging results in the event of information getting into the wrong hands. As a holder of such a large amount of public information, the public sector is a huge target for theft and misuse of documents, making it even more important to take the necessary precautions to protect your company.
Every business has its own security requirements, but none more than the National Health Service. Maintaining patient confidentiality is essential to build trust and protect individuals’ details. Disposing of patients’ medical records is vital to comply with UK legal requirements regarding private information. Ensuring that all paperwork is disposed of by shredding to a sufficient standard is a requirement of NHS and GP Privacy Policies.
The majority of businesses will have a substantial amount of secure information that is stored confidentially and then needs to be destroyed. For some businesses this may be largely in paper form, however more and more businesses are moving towards only storing data digitally. However, this means that companies must be careful to diligently dispose of any media that they are no longer using – whether this is hard drives, DVDs or CDs, or other storage devices such as SIM cards or USB memory sticks.
Every company has secure documentation – anything from staff payment information, to accounts or private customer data. When you’ve finished with these printed documents, under UK confidentiality laws, your company is required to dispose of these securely. And not only for paper documents – don’t forget any of your data that is stored on hard drives, USB sticks or other media.
The secure document destruction community is responsible for an average of about 49% of the nation’s annual paper recycling each year. With several tons of paper being shredded each day, it’s vital that companies like Shred-on-Site are on the cusp of supporting the country with its national recycling commitment. The national objective to decrease the amount of landfill waste and to increase the volume of direct recycled paper remains clear. It’s up to us and our clients to hit the targets and stop paper from hitting the landfill.
