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Your hardware is moving out of your data center and you need to send out for recycling and proper disposal. However, before you can get started, you need to make sure your data is securely wiped or destroyed. With companies needing their internal IT teams focused on more strategic tasks, and because they need a certificate of data destruction generated, data destruction is typically outsourced. There is a litany of available vendors to wipe your data, but certified data destruction is your best choice.
Small data wiping services or drives available online just won’t cut it for a cybersecurity-forward company. You’re legally and ethically responsible for all of the confidential data on each of those drives. So why would you entrust your drives to a company that isn’t certified for security and quality?
Your data security measures shouldn’t end with the use of your machinery.
Certified Data Destruction Ensures Brand Protection
With news of breaches hitting big names such as Facebook, Wawa, and Capital One, it’s clear no company is safe from risk of data breach. And, unfortunately, more than lost or exposed data is at stake. For brands that fail to protect proprietary and client data, their very reputation and financial stability is at risk.
When you choose uncertified data destruction methods, you are opening your company up to data breach. Your hard drives might no longer be useful to you, but that doesn’t mean your data isn’t useful to malicious users or the dark web. And with governments cracking down on companies’ archives of individuals’ private data, companies can’t afford to drop the ball on their decommissioned data storage.
Certified data destruction means that your data will be destroyed, so it cannot fall into the wrong hands. When you work with an industry certified data destruction partner, the burden of responsibility no longer weighs down your decommissioning process.
Maintain Compliance with Certified Data Destruction
For companies required to maintain HIPAA, PCI, or another compliance certification, certified data destruction is the only trustworthy option. Your certified data destruction partner should provide you with a Certificate of Destruction after the disposal of your drives or erasure of your data, ensuring your company is no longer responsible for that data.
If the company that provides that certificate isn’t certified itself for data destruction or erasure, however, the compliance governing bodies will blame your company for not performing due diligence. This is why companies must find a data destruction partner that is certified according to top independent auditing boards for quality assurance, such as ISO 14001, Responsible Recycling© (R2) and OHSAS 18001, in respect to the scope of data destruction, audit resale and recycle.
Choosing Between Certified Disk Destruction and Certified Data Erasure
Both disk destruction and disk erasure come with pros and cons.
Disk erasure typically takes more time than disk destruction, but it’s a greener option assuming you have the ability to reuse or repurpose the disk after. It’s also more expensive. Disk destruction takes less time and is typically less expensive.
Choosing between the two might come down to your own compliance requirements. If you are required to supervise your data destruction or to complete it onsite, you need to have the space and resources available to your vendor for however long it takes. Since disk erasure takes longer (and more resources) to complete, many opt to go with disk destruction methods such as shredder trucks.
Certified Data Destruction You Can Trust
A company that maintains industry certifications and guarantees certified data destruction is one that is dedicated to making ethical decisions, both for its customers and for the environment. It’s not just about maintaining compliance; it’s about making smart long-term business decisions to help clients.
The CentricsIT facility located at 3140 Northwoods Parkway, Suite 500, Norcross, GA has been independently audited and confirmed as being in conformity with ISO 14001:2015, Responsible Recycling© (R2) and ISO 45001:2018, in respect to the scope of data destruction, audit resale and recycle. Additionally, the CentricsIT office located in Suite 700 of the same address is ISO 9001:2015 certified, in respect to IT hardware reselling services, hardware rentals and services that include hardware maintenance, hardware installations and data center moves.
CentricsIT maintains these certifications because we believe in the quality of our service and our processes—and we welcome each chance to prove it.
When you partner with CentricsIT for secure data destruction, we help you identify the right destruction method based on your company’s needs and strategic initiatives. If it’s important for you to get things done quickly, we’ll come to you. If it’s important to you to recycle in the greenest way possible, we’re certified to help with that too. And, if you’re trying to recoup some value, we might buy it.
Whether you prefer us to destroy your data onsite, or have our in-house logistics team coordinate secure asset delivery via an insured, dedicated courier to our headquarters in Atlanta, GA, we will destroy, shred, or erase your disks according to your specifications and provide you with all the necessary documentation you would require to pass a future security audit.
Contact a CentricsIT ITAD expert to get started today.
No one wants to be the next big data breach—especially through your old data storage assets. CentricsIT talks data security during the decommissioning process in this free e-book download.
