National Data Privacy Day is modeled after Europe’s Data Protection Day commemorating the January 28, 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection.
This year, Data Privacy Day has been extended to Data Privacy Week which kicks off today and culminates on Friday, January 28. As a leading supplier of onsite, secure data destruction services nationwide, Guardian Data Destruction is kicking off a full week of data privacy conversations specifically for the enterprise IT space.
The Experts in Data Privacy
Guardian Data Destruction’s origin and specialty is the secure end of life shredding, wiping, erasing and degaussing. We understand data, but we wanted to know what others in IT services thought about the implications of data privacy in business.
These industry leaders have offered their thoughtful advice and topical concerns as part of our Data Privacy weeklong series. Use their expert advice to think about (deeply), tackle and close any gaps in your own data privacy policy and process.
| Today | What is Data Privacy Day and why should you care? | Melissa Graham – Senior Vice President, Global Sales SHI International Corp. |
| Tues Jan 25 | Data Privacy Day expands to Data Privacy Week. Here’s what the experts want you to know. | Eric Ingebretsen – Chief Commercial Officer TES-Sustainable Technology Solutions |
| Wed Jan 26 | Data Privacy Week: Finding trusted vendors that align with your company asset management policies | Joe Marion – President The Association of Service, Communications, Data and ITAD providers (ASCDI) & Christian Foster – SVP CircleIT |
| Thurs Jan 27 | Data Privacy: What Keeps Me Up At Night | Eric Dorn – Senior Vice President & General Manager Sipi Asset Recovery |
| Fri Jan 28 | Celebrate Data Privacy Day with a Data Privacy Week Wrap-up | John Shegerian – Chairman/CEO ERI Direct |
SHI International’s Comments on Data Privacy Day,
“The Questions You Should Be Asking”
SHI International is one of North America’s top providers of integrated hardware and other solutions. Melissa Graham was SHI’s first hire in 1989 and is proactive and responsive to IT trends and the impact on customer solutions and data security:
“It’s not a stretch to see that IT technology is in a highly fluctuating state right now with challenges in work from home, a myriad of supply chain issues affecting inventory, cybersecurity and updated IT architecture options.
Data Privacy Day is an opportunity for any company to step back, take a breath and see where their data resides in this increasingly hybrid environment. How can you create robustness and resiliency in data storage? How can you ensure that remote workers are following data security protocols? What do you do to destroy data on devices in the field before they are shipped and vulnerable to theft? How is your procurement department balancing risk and costs?
I encourage all my clients to work with their vendors to seek solutions that make these real-world challenges both flexible and a fortress.”
Melissa Graham
Senior Vice President, Global Sales
SHI International Corp.
Start by looking for your data
With more and more hard drives, computers, and smart devices purchased every day, the risk is buried in the memories of everyday business devices and tools. And, as enterprises move to the cloud or relocate, there’s often valuable and confidential data on those discarded drives, media and equipment.
Guardian’s data destruction and equipment retrieval services aren’t just limited to the traditional hard drives which may be the most obvious and only part of your data destruction plan and process. We’re getting increasing calls for data destruction from hard drives located in printers, copiers, kiosks, ATMs, cars and more. Go here for a surprising list of office equipment and IT devices that may be storing company data and include those devices in your IT asset privacy protection process.
Your best defense against data privacy risks
We believe that the data is always more important than the hardware. Working with our channel partners, Guardian’s services supplement all kinds of asset management and disposition programs to meet logistics, compliance and security goals that can vary widely by industry and company.
And we’re not alone. As Melissa noted, lean on your trusted vendors for help creating comprehensive and proactive privacy solutions. They often have the experience, processes and services to ensure that the privacy of your company data and your customers’ data stays just that way – private.
Data Privacy week is a timely opportunity to schedule a privacy conversation with your vendors to stop potential leaks and exposure. Ensure that they have an aligned philosophy and adherence to your data privacy standards so that your IT infrastructure is, as Melissa stressed, “both flexible and a fortress.”
If you have any questions, reach out to Guardian Data Destruction or SHI. And get ready for tomorrow’s blog: Data Privacy Day expands to Data Privacy Week. Here’s what the experts want you to know.
