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The demise of the data center
05 Jan 2012
The move toward Cloud Computing spells the potential demise of the Data Center. Protecting your data in the future is not the only concern. Proper disposal of old equipment is required to safeguard confidential information.
As cloud computing becomes an office essential, Anthony Pearlgood, the commercial director at PHS Maxitech, the ethical IT recycler, discusses how disposing of old IT systems is an environmental business responsibility.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. This allows businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. With this flexibility comes an increased danger of cyber crimes.
Cyber Crime
Online scams and frauds have become massively illicit industries. The unwary have found themselves subject to extortion, exploitation and plain theft. The key to all these crimes is possession of personal information which can circulate around the world in micro-seconds. To buy a credit card number on the internet costs about ten pounds from credit card thieves.
By definition, the way we prevent the losses or at least minimise the risk is to destroy as much of our confidential digital information as possible, when it’s no longer needed; bank and credit card numbers and details, passwords, PIN numbers, addresses, dates of birth and NI numbers - in short, all the basic digital information that a responsible organisation/ individual would need to verify our identity.
It only takes a moment’s thought to realise that all this data is in the copious memory of the devices that most of us now treat as everyday objects; mobile phones, tablets, laptops and PCs.
Criminals have become extremely adept at extracting this information from memory chips and hard drives that fall into their hands. They source old computers from internet auction sites, in skips or in rubbish tips, to find users' details.
‘Which?’ computer? magazine recovered 22,000 ‘deleted’ files from eight computers purchased on eBay. It’s an almost childishly simple process to uncover past credit card and bank transactions from discarded electronic equipment. The crooks download free software to recover files that users think they have permanently deleted.
Business Data
When the question of destroying business or corporate records arises, the scale of the task makes it much more difficult. The consequences and penalties for failing to do the job properly can obviously be much more damaging.
Received wisdom in these circumstances dictates using a professional data destruction and materials recycling company. They offer a guaranteed nationwide commercial service used by banks, financial institutions and law firms.
It’s worth noting that from 2013, under an new EU Data Protection Directive, the onus on reporting business and organisational data ‘leaks’ will extend from just:
• Government departments
• Telecoms companies and
• Internet service providers
to the whole business, organisational and professional community. It will be a legal requirement to report the loss of confidential data. The people whose private data is involved will have to be individually told that records containing information about them is unaccounted for.
Data protection is only half the story.
WEEE...
If your organisation imports, rebrands or manufactures new electrical or electronic equipment, then it's likely that you'll need to comply with the UK's WEEE regulations. If you operate in one of the categories that need to comply, you must register on a producer compliance scheme.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) became UK law in January 2007 subsequent to the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Regulations 2006.
The aim of the Directive is to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced and to encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover as many useful components and materials from it as possible.
It also aims to reduce the environmental impact of the many differing businesses that either manufacture and supply, or use, recycle and recover, electrical and electronic equipment.
Both public and private sector organisations almost certainly have disposal obligations under the WEEE Regulations, too. If you have electrical or electronic equipment to dispose of, or if, indeed, you sell new or used electrical or electronic equipment, you fall within the scope of the regulations.
Specialist electronic waste destruction and disposal companies can provide information and advice on complying with the WEEE Regulations to business and industry in general, producers of Electrical or Electronic Equipment (EEE) and the waste management industry.
Ignore the changes at your peril
In short, the whole landscape of disposing of an organisations’ accumulation of unwanted information, electronic and electrical equipment and materials, has changed. The responsibility for environmental compliance has switched from the people who traditionally collected unwanted goods and materials, to those doing the discarding. A robust new destruction and recycling industry has emerged to accommodate this shift in legal emphasis. This is something every organisation of every size has to take into account.
