Data regulators are stepping up their investigations on businesses and organizations that fail to adhere to strict new laws, providing people with the option to claim compensation for lost data.

Many companies in the past several months have failed to adequately protect consumer data, resulting in breaches which have scarred the business community and made it ever more important to protect data that is used and transferred between countries and data centers.

Following GDPR, there has been a global uptick in data compliance laws that will make it even more important for businesses to safeguard their systems, and dispose of personal records and other sensitive information.

One of the areas in which there has been a significant growth in, is the appointment of Data Compliance Officers in charge of making sure business processes are aligned with these new regulations. In doing so, organizations can implement new procedures that help to protect employee data, and company data. This can be in the form of certain rules on how to handle and store data, what to do when computers are not used, and issues such as using data on the move, sharing information outside of the company and much more.

Data auditing is one key element in helping the Data Compliance Officer, allowing businesses to prove they have safely removed and even destroyed old hard drives which are no longer in use. The use of data degaussers along with auditing software may seem like a step too far for some businesses, but with mounting fines and compliance orders, it becomes more essential for organizations to invest in the equipment that will ultimately reduce their risk, and at the same time, erase any sensitive information so that it can’t be uncovered at a later stage.