The truth is, skipping the expense of an IT Recycling service could end up costing you way more in legal fees when a data breach occurs.
Data theft can occur with devices are improperly discarded and end up in landfills, free for the taking. Yes, even if you wiped our computer or restored factory settings.
Data recovery tools are advancing at the same rate as any technology. There is a way to get your data if it is not done right, trust us. Do you want to put your company at that kind of risk?
With a company like Great Lakes Electronics performing your IT recycling service, you’ll never have to worry about ending up a statistic in the land of data breach lawsuits.
Landmark Cases in Data Breach Lawsuits
The most iconic cases in data breach lawsuits come from all over the world and from many different types of companies.
Big Bucks for British Airways
In 2018, British Airways faced a company-wide data breach that leaked the personal and financial information of almost 400,000 customers.
While the plaintiff filed the lawsuit back in 2018, any customers involved had until March of 2021 to file their claim. That is two years of added stress and misfortune to this well-known company. It turns out that only 16,000 people decided to file their claims. Each one could have a payout of $2724.
Ask yourself this: How would you feel if this was your company?
High Costs for HyVee
Also, in 2018, a data breach occurred in the card readers at a grocery store/gas station chain called HyVee. The breach affected nearly 40 cities in Iowa and stole customers’ names, credit card numbers, verification codes, and expiration dates.
The case causes several Hyvee customers to file data breach lawsuits against the company from October and November 2019. While the company tried to get the case dismissed, the judge denied that, and they proposed a settlement of $225 per person affected.
To be eligible to receive the settlement money, customers needed:
- Up to three hours for time spent dealing with the data breach, at $20 per hour
- A $20 payment for each card for which reimbursed the fraudulent charges
- Bank fees that did not get reimbursed
- Phone, data, or internet charges
- Charges that banks and credit card companies did not reimburse
- Interest on payday loans
- Reimbursement for the cost of credit reports, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection.
Furthermore, the settlement would require Hy-Vee to pay $727,000 for the plaintiffs’ attorney fees and $12,000 for expenses.
While there are no claims on how many people filed for reimbursements, $225 can add up quickly, especially when spanned across 40 cities full of people.
No money lost is always preferable for your company. With proper IT recycling, you can avoid cases like these. What is essential to observe from these cases is that data breach lawsuits can last for years and keep costing you money.
Identity Theft Lawsuits Caused by Improperly Disposed of Devices
When we improperly throw away devices, they end up in landfills and dumps. In the publicly available garbage, they are vulnerable to be taken by data manipulators and often leak toxic chemicals into the groundwater.
Just by sitting in the trash, your IT devices could be open to data theft. If the right thief gets ahold of your computer, laptop, phone, card reader, or anything else, they could open up a world of possibility.
The data stolen can be anything from confidential company financial records to employee medical data and identity information, including social security, home addresses, and banking numbers. If a data breach occurs and your employees suffer, they will have the right to file data breach lawsuits.
As an example, the popular east-coast grocery chain, Kroger, is facing a situation like this as of April 2021. Kroger’s extreme lack of protection against employee data resulted in a data breach leaking millions of employees’ birthdates, social security numbers, salary amounts, and more.
As a result of this negligence, the employees affected are eligible for at least $300 in compensation.
Your employees are trusting you with their data, so it is vital to take that seriously. The best way to prevent identity theft is by adequately recycling your devices with a trusted company like Great Lakes Electronics.
Avoid a Data Breach Lawsuit & Recycle Your IT Devices
Our experts take each device and deconstruct it completely. Our data destruction services leave no chance for hackers to access your company’s confidential data. We adhere to a very specific process to destroy data properly and recycle any materials that we can.
To seal the deal, we offer Certificates of Destruction which confirm that all data devices are handled in accordance with NIST 800.88 standards. We get the job done right, so you do not have to worry about leaking or getting stolen from your devices.
You work hard for your company’s success, so don’t skimp on this necessary process! To learn more about how we can help, request a quote online or give us a call at 888-392-7831.