Why do identity thieves want to get their hands on your hard drive? Old hard drives can provide a wealth of valuable information, including your Social Security number, banking details, and contact information for friends and relatives. Armed with this highly sensitive and personal data, identity thieves may attempt to open credit in your name, con people you know, or steal from your savings.
Most offices have a records retention schedule that determines how long the office has to keep client or patient records. At the end of the retention time, the office may shred the files if the clients or patients do not want them. Personnel should use proper procedures for document destruction of those documents and files that have an expired retention time. For example, the law requires many law offices to retain client files for at least seven years. At the end of seven years, the office may destroy the files if the client does not want them.
Medical businesses and some other businesses are required to keep records for a certain period of time pursuant to HIPPA regulations. Additionally, when it’s time to get rid of those records, these businesses must dispose of medical documents and other personal or confidential documents in such a manner so that no person may recover the documents. While North Carolina has no state law dictating how long a business must keep client or patient files, federal laws and regulations do.
Shredding documents is an important step in securing your personal data or, if you own a business, your customers' personal data. Shredding hard drives is also a step in protecting personal and confidential data, though most people do not think about shredding hard drives – they just throw the computer away.
The risks and threats of company data being purposely stolen or inadvertently “shared” are high unless you have excellent security measures in place. Some of the challenges businesses have in securing data may easily be overcome with a good security plan put in place, including locked boxes for documents that need to be shredded.
Hackers cost the medical industry over $6 billion per year, and that number is steadily growing, according to an IT security researcher, the Ponemon Institute. Because the protections are lax at physicians' practices and at hospitals, they are easy targets. And, combined with that, with one person's medical record commanding up to $1,000 on the darknet, this industry is a ripe target. Compare this to $0.25 for a credit card number and $0.10 for a social security number.