Research reveals over 6% of employers throw away old tech

30% of people who believe their employers have mothballed old technology believe it is worth over £10,000

New research (1) from DSA Connect, an IT asset disposal company that specialises in the permanent deletion and destruction of electronic data, reveals that 6% of people say their employers simply just throw away old technology hardware. Just 35% say it is recycled, but 10% claim it is mothballed and not used again.

Other uses of the technology include donating it to charities, and just 10% say it is sold.

Research: What employers do with old technology hardware:

Overall, 34% of people claim that one or more pieces of hardware technology given to them by their employers were second hand.

Harry Benham, Chairman of DSA Connect said: “What employers do with their second-hand technology hardware can have huge implications for them. Generating an income from selling it or donating it to charities are great ways to utilise old technology hardware, but if the data has not been wiped off it properly, employers could end up facing huge fines.

“It is probably because of this that one in ten people believe their employers re-allocate or mothball old technology without taking steps to delete stored data.”

DSA Connect is an IT asset disposal specialist. It specialises in the erasure and destruction of electronic data using tools certified by CESG and approved by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It ensures that all data storage media and equipment is removed from a client’s premises and transported to its secure facility in unmarked, tracked vehicles.

The company was established in 2011 to partner with the Ministry of Defence in developing the MoD’s asset disposal service.

About DSA Connect

DSA Connect is an IT asset disposal specialist (ITAD). It specialises in the erasure and destruction of electronic data using tools certified by CESG and approved by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

It ensures that all data storage media and equipment is removed from a client’s premises and transported to its secure facility in tracked vehicles.

All its personnel carry ID cards and senior site personnel have BS7858 security screening.

The company was established in 2011 to partner the Ministry of Defence in developing the MoD’s asset disposal service.

The partnership involved using DSA Connect’s commercial and public sector skills to develop an asset management service that was secure, auditable, and accountable.

DSA Connect continues to apply the same methodology in its contracts with both the commercial sector and government departments.

DSA Connect ensures that clients have a complete audit trail of activity from collection point to data destruction.

They receive a full inventory of your items together with a Certificate of Destruction and, if applicable, sales and recycling reports.

All residual components are recycled in accordance with our zero to landfill policy and you can be confident that all our processes are carried out in line with our ISO 9001 and 14001 accreditations.

The specific services offered by DSA Connect are as follows:

Secure Data Erasure

It offers three types of secure data erasure depending on specific requirements, as follows:

Data Sanitisation

DSA Connect ensures that sensitive data has been permanently erased from servers, laptops, desktops, hard drives, and solid-state drives by using data sanitisation software approved by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Degaussing

DSA Connect uses the Ontrack® eraser degausser which destroys 100% of data from hard drives and data tapes, rendering the devices completely inoperable. Degaussing is the ideal solution for large volumes of end-of-life magnetic media and, as it is a mobile unit, it can be carried out on-site. The Ontrack® eraser degausser is also approved by the NCSC.

Hard Drive Shredding & Granulating

After degaussing, all disused and obsolete hard drives are destroyed in an industrial shredder. Many government departments require that redundant hard drives are destroyed to a particle size of 6mm. DSA Connect has the capacity to meet this requirement using an in-house granulator.

On-Site Data Destruction

For a minimum of 50 hard drives, DSA Connect provides an on-site data destruction service using its mobile Ontrack® eraser degausser. The degaussing machine is quick (less than 1 minute per hard drive), clean and silent so there is no disruption to the work environment. The advantage of the degausser is that data destruction can be done indoors and not in the back of a vehicle, as is the case with on-site hard drive shredding.

Reporting, Certification & De-branding

DSA Connect generates reports for all levels of activity so that you can track your IT assets from collection to disposal. Clients are provided with the following documentation:

Waste Transfer Note – upon collection of your equipment.
Asset Inventory – all assets are logged by your asset number (if available), type of equipment, manufacturer, model, and serial number.
Data Destruction Certificates – for all data sanitised media
Sales Reports – For equipment that has re-sale value, reports are provided detailing items sold and value of sales rebate.

Recycling

Maintaining an active zero to landfill policy, DSA Connect recycles all residual components by manually dismantling IT equipment that is unsuitable for refurbishment or re-sale. Segregating the materials and sub-assemblies, components are despatched to licenced recycling facilities ready to be used in place of raw materials for industrial processes. Items not suitable for dismantling are sent to licenced Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) processing plants.

End of Life IT

Many businesses often find themselves with redundant IT and telecoms equipment. This could be due to periodic equipment refreshes, downsizing or office relocations and closures. Recovering redundant equipment from across the UK, we provide a secure IT asset disposal service utilising a methodology created in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. DSA Connect’s end of life service allows for the complete removal and data eradication of IT equipment and, depending on the quantity and type of equipment for disposal, DSA Connect offers a rebate of up to 60% on all re-saleable assets.

For more information go to https://www.dsa-connect.co.uk/

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