Companies regularly have to update their old office equipment in order to compete in the modern world. Computers and copiers which were state-of-the-art 5 years ago now no longer run the latest software, and are often incompatible with firewalls and anti-virus programs. If you have decided to replace your old computers, then you will need to be certain about what you can do with the old equipment, and what the law requires you to do in order to protect both your company and yourself.
The rules regarding old office equipment
When you dispose of old computers, copiers and other electronic machines, you will have to make sure that the information on their hard drives is completely destroyed. This is due to EU and UK laws which enforce data protection, making your business responsible for any data shared with your company by customers or suppliers. Old computer hard drives can keep this information even when you think it has been destroyed by deleting files, and this means that if you are not removing the information effectively, then you could be liable to prosecution. You will have to provide evidence that all information was scrubbed before the computers were discarded.
Why you should have secure data destruction
The main reason why you need more technologically advanced forms of data removal is that information can be left on drives even after files have been deleted and software removed. Although you may not be able to read the information left behind, sophisticated drive readers may be able to recover that data.
The best way to ensure that all data is removed is to employ a secure data destruction service, which will ensure that discs and hard drives have all data removed before they are destroyed. This will ensure that no private data is left on discarded computers.