Protective Sensitive Company Data with a Hard Drive Shredding Service

Sometimes employees work with a lot of sensitive data that should not be seen or accessed by people who do to have the proper authorization. As a result, these companies will go to great lengths to make sure their employees computers are protected at all times. From adding special passwords to open up a specific application to make sure the information is encrypted when it is submitted to someone that is on the outside of their firewall, individuals and organizations establish specific procedures to protect their information. Logging in to obtain sensitive data is only one part of the problem that an organization may face since there are other ways sensitive information can be compromised. Another is when a company or individual upgrades or takes an asset out of service and the computer is no longer in use.  How do you protect your company against this risk? By hiring a Houston paper shredding and/or a hard drive destruction service to shred outdated hard drives on-site.

When Should a Hard Drive be shredded/destroyed?

The services of a shredding company is needed in a diversity of situations. One of the most common is when an organization has a need to update their computers by installing new hard drives so they can store additional information. Or, they may choose to buy all new computers for the employees in an office. Whatever the case, it is important for the managers over these operations to make sure that the hard drives in these computers are destroyed correctly, specifically since that should not be thrown away in a nearby garbage receptacle.

Even though people may wipe their hard drives completely clean via a software applications program, it is important to note that the information can be recovered again if the hard drive is not discarded by using a shredding process. Fortunately, there are many shredding companies in various local areas that can assist with these jobs so that the data that is contained on these hard drives will be totally obliterated.

Opting for professional services and HIPAA 

When a company hires a professional services to destroy the company’s hard drives, the management in the company will need to determine the types of services that will be needed. Some firms may choose the type of services that can be done offsite, while others may choose to hire a firm that can provide onsite destruction procedures. The type selected will often depend on the type of business activities that the company is conducting. In some cases, the type of services needed is based on the law instead of the company’s preferences. For instance, if the company provides medical services and they house patients records, the law governs how the hard drives should be destroyed so they can prevent identity theft and other security breaches. Which means, the company will need to hire a company that provides the most effective method so that no one can get their hands on a patient’s information.

In these situations, the company can minimize their exposure to and serious legal implications by requesting the hard drives to be destroyed onsite. The type of equipment used should have the capability to pulverize the hard drives so that they cannot be recovered or put back together in any form. These companies can also supply the essential documentation that is required to comply with the laws HIPAA and FACTA.

Hard drive shredding and Specialized shredders

When a company is in the process of hiring a PROSHRED^® Security services provider to perform these functions, the business owner and their representatives will need to make sure that they have the equipment to do the job right. Therefore, they should look for a reputable provider that have specialized shredders that they can use onsite. To reduce the expenses of removing the waste, these companies should also provide special recycling services if needed as well.

Affordable Rates 

In addition to finding a reputable company with the right equipment and shredding services, business owners should also look for the best providers with the most affordable rates. As these companies are often competing to acquire both small and large contracts, the rates for each companies can vary greatly from one services provider to another. Which means, when the owners of the business is shopping around for the best prices in the industry, they can review the top three companies to see which alternative is the least costly to the company. However, it is still important to note that the rate that’s offered should not supersede the need to remain in compliance with the laws that affect the business and their associated policies.

Can the Company Service Large Volumes on Regular Schedules

Another area of concern that a business owner should consider when shopping around is the volume of hard drives that the company has to destroy on a regular basis. Specifically, because preventing identify theft is something that should not be neglected by allowing bad or obsolete hard drives to remain intact for extended periods of time. Therefore, this is an issue that should be handled on a regular basis and often as it is needed. So, it is important for the owners to make sure that the company that they decide to hire has the capability and the manpower to provide the services as required. Regardless to the amount that the company has to destroy, the services provider must have the ability to handle small to large volumes at a time.

Protecting a company’s computer data is not always as simple as most people may think. In fact, these processes can become quite complex over time. Even though the company may have strict software application data security guidelines in place, they may still be at risks of security exposure when they are discarding their computer hard drives. For instance, its not enough for an organization to wipe a hard drive clean with an software application, especially since these devices should be completely destroyed to protect the sensitive data that’s contained on them. This is why many small and large companies are hiring professional shredding services to destroy their hard drives onsite with the most effective method.

Written by: Brock Bruce, President, PROSHRED^® of Houston

Brock Bruce