Have you ever gotten an email from a company saying they experienced a data breach? Perhaps you saw in the media how major companies were struck with a cyber attack that crippled their business. While not talked about nearly enough, data breaches occur on a broad scale, with significant threats happening all the time. That’s why hard drive destruction has become more prevalent than ever. Today, we are sharing how data breaches are impacting the global network, compliance requirements you should be meeting, and why wiping your data just isn’t enough.
Data Breach Threats are on the Rise
According to Statista, data breaches are on the rise. In 2024, they reported 3,158 cases in the U.S. alone, with 1.35 billion people affected worldwide. Compared to 2020, when there were 1,108 cases and only 310 million people affected, it demonstrates how quickly the threat and impact are rising.
To give you further insights, in 2024, the biggest cyber attacks caused massive financial or operational impact, affecting not only the originating company but also global services at large. Here is a brief synopsis of six of the top data breaches worldwide.
1. Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack caused sensitive patient data to be collected. This crippled operations, disrupted healthcare services nationwide, and had a response cost of $2.87 billion.
2. Snowflake Ransomware Attack caused sensitive company data from major businesses, including telecommunication providers and banks, to be collected and used for extortion. Companies were demanded ransoms ranging from $300,000 to $5 million.
3. UK MoD Data Breach compromised 270,000 current and former UK military personnel. While a malignant actor was not formally identified, data concerning names, bank details, and home addresses were stolen.
4. Ascension Ransomware Attack led to another disruption to the U.S. healthcare system, forcing workers to rely on manual documentation, with many critical services being delayed.
5. MediSecure Australia Data Breach compromised personal and health information of approximately 12.9 million individuals. Despite efforts to identify the attackers, none were found, and 6.5 terabytes of data were stolen.
6. Synnovis-NHS UK Ransomware Attack was a critical incident that led to thousands of vital medical treatments being rescheduled and 400GB of sensitive data being leaked online.
Data Compliance Requirements
If you are a business owner, you may be subject to specific data compliance requirements, depending on your industry, such as HIPAA, GLBA, FACTA, and PCI-DSS. This requires you to meet specific regulations to safeguard sensitive customer, employee, and financial data, which includes the proper disposal of physical data. For example, if you are subject to HIPAA, covered entities may be subject to civil penalties for the misconduct of their business associates that leads to a security breach.
In most cases, regulatory bodies such as these require physical hard drive destruction through shredding methods. We suggest reviewing the regulations that apply to your business, but shredding is the most secure route.
Why Wiping Data Isn’t Enough
Whether you are a business or an individual, you are responsible for the data within your possession. If you have a hard drive that needs to be disposed of, you must dispose of it properly. Often, people think that “wiping” a hard drive is enough, but it isn’t.
“Wiping” a hard drive is a non-destructive process of deleting information from the device. While it is more than “deleting” the data, which removes the content from common access points, it doesn’t actually get rid of it. This information can still be accessed and recovered later on, especially by savvy hackers.
To completely destroy data, it must be physically destroyed, preferably by shredding. Shredding is the ultimate form of destruction, as the hard drive will be put through an industrial shredder. This industrial shredder will mangle it beyond repair. Then the individual pieces are sorted into material categories and sent off for recycling, which typically means the pieces will be melted down to be reused in something else. It is well and truly gone!
Protect Your Data with CI Information Management
If you would like to protect your or your business’s sensitive data correctly, we at CI Information Management offer residential and commercial shredding services, including hard drive destruction.
CI Information Management is NAID AAA Certified, meaning we exceed the highest industry standards for secure data destruction. You can shred your hard drive on-site or have it scheduled for protected pick-up. In both cases, you receive a Certificate of Destruction, giving you documented proof for audits, compliance reports, and peace of mind. Ready to safely get rid of your hard drive? Request a free quote from us today!
