Data removal services are becoming increasingly popular among companies. With a greater emphasis on the circular economy, and how they are reducing, reusing and recycling technology, companies are growing in awareness of the need to keep their data safe at the end of their technology products’ lifecycle.
Harsh penalties incurred by those companies that don’t protect their data are driving a focus on how organisations protect their data at each and every point of its lifecycle.
What is a data removal service?
A data removal service such as ASL’s data removal service helps individuals or organisations to securely delete or erase data from devices.
Often, printers and fax machines will store data until it’s retrieved or even for a time after. As data is stored on a hard drive, it can be complicated to ensure that all versions of any file are deleted or removed prior to the device being reused or repurposed.
By using advanced techniques, a data removal service can overwrite existing data stored on devices with random or predefined patterns, often overpassed multiple times, which makes it almost impossible to retrieve the original information.
Reasons for choosing to use a data removal service
- Data removal to protect privacy
Sometimes protecting data is about more than simply not finding themselves subject to a hefty fine for failure to comply with data security regulations. Sometimes companies want to protect the data they hold on their staff or to safeguard documents that could offer up a competitive edge if they were to land in the wrong hands. Privacy can also be important to protect the company’s long-term security. A data removal service can offer your customers the reassurance that their data will always be safe.
- Data removal for compliance with regulations
Of course, failure to comply with regulations can be costly and embarrassing and can result in a substantial hit to an organisation’s reputation. Using a data removal service can demonstrate, among other things, that your organisation takes such data regulations seriously, which is reassuring to potential customers and existing customers.
- Preventing data breaches
And then there’s the prevention of data breaches. Data breaches can be vastly inconvenient and expensive. Breached data can be held to ransom, which may result in your business being unable to continue until the issue is resolved, but it can also be sold on the black market, making employees and customers vulnerable to crime. By erasing data at the end of a device lifecycle, it becomes much more difficult for the data to be breached, even after a device has been moved on.
For more information about ASL’s Data Removal Service and how it can help your business to protect its data and continue to a circular economy, contact us on 0345 207 7000.