National Data Privacy Day is a good reminder of the responsibility every organization has for taking necessary steps to protect sensitive information and prevent a data breach of client records. The responsibility of data privacy is governed by a series of laws at the industry, state, and national level. Failure to comply comes with steep financial penalties, in addition to the negative effect on a brand and the cost of breach reporting.
Most organizations say they take data privacy seriously, but then store records in un-secure office space, basements, attics, and storage units well beyond their required retention.
Their paper records are out of sight and out of mind. As long as you keep the records, you are responsible for them, whether an employee accesses them that shouldn’t, a break-in or hack leads to a breach, or a lawsuit uncovers documents that could have been shredded years before. If you have old records stored onsite or in an un-secure storage area, you can reduce your risk by shredding records that have met their retention.
Our team can help you identify hard copy and digital records that are eligible for destruction and destroy them for you. If you want to go a step further and get rid of the paper that is accumulating in these un-secure spaces, we can help you digitize your processes to eliminate paper going forward. Give us a call to discuss your options. Our team is ready to help you understand your data privacy obligations, and develop a plan to reduce your risk!
