Who’s mining your data?

On any given day how often are you on your smartphone, your laptop or your notebook?  When you’re out and about and have a question, need directions or want a review of a restaurant you access the information you need on your handy-dandy mobile devices.

What about the information you’re accessing?  Your bank accounts, your medical records or doctor appointments, your online shopping and more.

The data tracking your moves and your inquiries is captured not only on your devices but in the databases of the sites you visit.  Are you protecting your privacy?  Are they?  Individually you may clear your browser history and password protect your devices but what’s there when you’re ready to upgrade to the newest, flashiest smartphone, laptop, or notebook?  What happens to the trail you’ve left behind?   What happens to the information that remains on the old device?  Do you care?

The Brookings Institute calls it the privacy paradox. Simply put it’s your willingness to give up certain privacies in exchange for others.  Want to read that controversial best-seller but don’t want those around you to know?  Download it from your local bookseller onto your portable device and no one (except the bookseller and your credit card company) will know.  But what about that information?  Is it secure?  How long is it retained?  Who has access to it?  If you are an organization collecting the information what policies and procedures do you have in place regarding the data?

Recently, Governor Mark Dayton of MN proposed a budget of over $124 million for cyber security defenses and digital infrastructure.  Regardless of your politics it’s clear, privacy, security, and the digital world are all topics you need to be aware of and give thought to.

At Shred Right we can help you develop a comprehensive plan for your information end-of-life security needs.  Contact a Shred Right representative for a cost analysis or email [email protected] for additional information.