Most organizations are careful with the data they use every day. The bigger risk often sits in the data nobody has touched in years: old client folders on a shared drive, exported spreadsheets in an employee's documents, scanned records on a retired server that never got wiped.
In a breach, that forgotten data counts just as much as current records. Every former client, patient, or applicant whose information was exposed may need to be notified, and regulators will ask why it was still being kept. Some rules address this directly. The FTC Safeguards Rule, for example, generally requires covered businesses to securely dispose of customer information within two years of its last use unless there's a legitimate business or legal reason to keep it.
A practical first step is knowing what you have and where it lives, then setting retention periods that match your legal obligations and actually following them. Secure storage, encryption, and proper disposal of old hardware close the rest of the gap. SMS-ITC helps Greater Atlanta organizations in regulated industries build those habits into day-to-day operations.
For leaders in healthcare, legal, and financial services: does your organization have a written data retention policy, and when was it last actually enforced?
#DataSecurity #Compliance #Cybersecurity
Clean graphic showing a file server or shared folder icon with an "archived years ago" label, or a professional photo of an office file storage area next to a laptop. Authentic photos of the SMS-ITC team and real client work are strongly preferred over stock; if stock is used, keep it realistic and non-cliche (no hooded hackers or glowing padlocks).
Canva text suggestion: "Data You Don't Need Is Still Data You Must Protect" or "Old Records, Current Risk"