The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) commissioned a study to analyse the amount of information left on recycled computers. For organisations the information left on the machine poses data breach problems which, after the new Privacy Laws come into effect, can attract fines up to $1.7 million dollars. For individuals, their most private information and their identity, is at risk of abuse.
The study found 30 percent of those recycled hard drives contained highly personal information. Information found on these hard drives included:
- spreadsheets of clients’ and account holders’ personal information;
- confidential client correspondence;
- billing information;
- personal medical information;
- images of a highly personal nature; and
- other confidential personal details.
Read the full results of the study and learn how we can destroy and recycle your e-waste.
For nearly 15 years Shred-X Document Destruction has been the leader in secure destruction services. We assist organisations in complying with the Privacy Act 1988 and its Amendments providing tailored services to thousands of commercial sites and households across Australia. Our secure destruction services include document destruction, digital media destruction (hard drives, CDs, credit cards), archive box cleanouts, and uniform destruction to name a few.