Newsletter January – 2011
Firstly to all our clients and those of you who will be at some point, Happy New Year! I hope you all have a prosperous one.
Well what a year! I think all of us honestly would say it has been hard work, but still we survive. Something I have learned is that in times of hardship, getting back to basics really does give you a reality check.
I have sat for sometime trying to think of something inspirational to say, but I have come to the conclusion that I will leave it to the experts so here goes;
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Two of our key aims at Recycling Your IT are to help our customers keep their confidential information safe and do the right thing when it comes to disposing of electrical equipment. Below are some news stories we hope you will find interesting. There are plenty more on our blog
Keeping Data Safe:
In 2005 100 Hard Disk Drives bought on eBay for £5 each. 1 in 7 had valuable data on including Paul McCartney’s. Financial records, pension plans, customer databases, financial information, payroll records, personnel details, login codes, and admin passwords for one of Europe’s largest financial services groups.
August 2008, computer bought on eBay for £35. Held personal data on a million customers from RBS, Nat West and American Express (accidentally sold by their data holding company)
NASA Sells Shuttle PC’s Without Wiping Data
US space agency Nasa has been left red-faced after selling off computers without ensuring that highly sensitive data had been removed.
An internal investigation found 10 cases where PCs were sold despite them failing to follow data removal procedures.
Another four PCs – which were about to be sold – were found to contain data restricted under arms control rules. The space agency’s internal auditors discovered that its policies for wiping data from PCs used in the Shuttle programme have not always been followed.
Q3 WEEE Data Shows Continued Strong Performance
The UK is continuing to collect over 40% of waste household electrical equipment for recycling despite not quite achieving the same level of performance as seen earlier in the year.
Figures published on the 1st December 2010 by the Environment Agency show that between July and September 2010 279,997.081 tonnes of household electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) was placed on the market in the UK, with 114,725.527 tonnes of household WEEE collected for recycling – amounting to a 40.97% collection rate.
