Securely disposing of their data is the key action Australian businesses must take to safeguard themselves from data breaches, according to Worldview Group Co-Founder Kurt Gruber.

Following the near-daily news of cyber attacks on Australian businesses, and the significant update that the OAIC is pursuing Medibank for record amounts after breaching the Privacy Act, Gruber sees the obvious solution that the public and private sector is failing to action: data destruction.

“Australian businesses will keep being targeted for cyber attacks if they do not begin to take data disposal seriously. There needs to be a comprehensive plan in place for end-of-life data policies and practice,” Kurt says.

WV Technologies (part of Worldview Group) is the first Australian company to be certified by NAID AAA for all data sanitisation and destruction services. The organisation’s secure ICT disposal service is supported by participants of the organisation’s social impact initiative, Worldview Foundation. Worldview provides holistic support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in overcoming barriers to employment.

“OAIS’ recent issuing of million dollar fines for Medibank should have every organisation worried about data breaches. Doing destruction in-house or with a cheap outsourcer won’t cut it anymore.”

An e-waste recycling experiment WV Technologies conducted last year led to alarming results; the organisation purchased ‘sanitised’ hardware from auctions and eBay, which was a haven for data available for the taking.

“At our fingertips, we instantly had defence industry medical records, government department email inboxes, customer credit information from retailers, as well as sensitive medical records and academic data from an education institution,” Kurt said.

“It is a frightening thought to contemplate this data in the wrong hands, and what it could mean for our nation and all of us as citizens.”

WV Technologies hopes to see progress from the Australian Government to update regulatory frameworks to ensure adequate directives for disposing of ICT equipment.