Data destruction is a core part of how large organizations protect themselves from data breaches. That goes hand-in-hand with product destruction as part of protecting your intellectual property and brand. While proper data destruction is important, it doesn’t have to be complicated. A good system will ensure that physical products, and both physical and digital data, are securely destroyed when necessary. Here’s everything your organization needs to know about creating secure data destruction processes.
Why Systemizing Data Destruction Matters
There’s a lot going on within your business every day, and proper data destruction needs to be easy to adopt throughout the organization. You need a clear and easy-to-use system for collecting and disposing of sensitive documents and other data. Systemizing the in-house part of your data destruction process means everyone knows exactly what to do with sensitive data and it’s all managed and destroyed in the same secure way.
Handling data destruction incorrectly could expose you to data breaches and compliance failures. Failing to properly dispose of physical products could lead to IP theft. Ultimately, the repercussions of improper data destruction can be expensive and even damaging to your reputation. Systematizing the process mitigates risk, because every time physical products or digital data needs to be destroyed, your team will know what to do.
Items Your Organization Needs to Destroy
This varies somewhat from industry to industry; a healthcare business will have different types of media to destroy than a grocery store or government office. Your safest strategy is to list anything that could potentially store data in your data destruction policy. These items should all be collected for secure destruction, not thrown away or recycled with general recycling.
- Documents containing any information about your organization that you wouldn’t be willing to share with the public
- Computers and tablets
- Phones
- Hard drives, thumb drives or any other type of external storage drive
- Electronic ID badges and access cards
- Payment cards and canceled checks
- Off-spec products or damaged products that can’t be returned to the manufacturer
- Any files or physical products that include your intellectual property
Choosing Reputable Data Destruction Services
Budget, security and reputation are three key areas to assess when evaluating prospective data destruction vendors. Look for a clear pricing structure and the option to tailor flexible services to meet your needs. You want the option to pay for only the services you need, even if your needs fluctuate from week to week. Any data destruction vendor you evaluate should be willing to be completely transparent about pricing so there are no hidden costs.
Security and reputation go hand in hand. You want to make sure that your data destruction service maintains the highest level of security in every area. That includes things like: Running background checks and other security screens on prospective employees; transporting materials in locked trucks that are tracked via GPS en route; a comprehensive security system within the data destruction facility, including 24/7 video monitoring.
Getting a referral from a peer can be helpful as well. You will want to make sure the service you choose has experience working with businesses like yours. This can also include learning about the company’s long-term clients, what they would need from you as a customer and how they package their services.
Data Destruction Best Practices
- Document your data destruction policies, and your employee training. Maintain a written data destruction policy laying out rules for what kinds of items need to be destroyed vs. recycled or thrown away. This document should also explain your record retention policy so people know which sensitive documents they need to keep and which ones should be shredded. The general goal is to create clear expectations for employees to follow. This policy should also document your organization’s plan for collecting and managing obsolete paper documents and other kinds of data. Cover this policy as part of employee training, and document the date that the training was done. This way no one can claim ignorance of the policy later on, if they cause a data breach.
- Document your data destruction activities. That may mean creating internal records about what you send out to be shredded. Request a Certificate of Destruction every time you use shredding services and keep them for your files.
- Provide the right collection bins, and enough of them. Ask your data destruction provider to do a site visit and help assess your needs.
- Have an org chart for data destruction. Who’s the point person in charge of liaising with your shredding company when you need to schedule services? Who’s responsible for training and retraining employees on the data destruction policy as needed? Who should employees call with questions about your destruction policies? Who’s in charge of filling those roles when someone’s out sick or leaves the organization? Make data destruction oversight an official job duty so it doesn’t become something that everyone assumes someone else is taking care of.
Contact Us for Data Destruction Services for Large Organizations
Northeast Data Destruction works with many large organizations like grocery stores, manufacturers, healthcare organizations and government entities. We get that data breaches can cost millions for large companies and you can’t afford to let that happen to you. Northeast Data Destruction adheres to the highest security standards in our NAID AAA-certified facility, and we’re happy to talk specifics about our security and competitive pricing. Contact us now.