Electronic Recyclers International Chairman and CEO John Shegerian called for the healthcare industry, businesses and consumers to pay more attention to electronic data disposal.
Mr. Shegerian cited the Anthem hack as an example of how drastically cybersecurity can affect a business. Healthcare businesses and systems will become more vulnerable as they become more digitized and as patients begin using more wearable medical devices to track their health, he wrote.
"Proper protection and destruction of private digital data has become a significantly important issue that needs to be addressed by all governmental, corporate and healthcare organizations, as well as every US citizen," Mr. Sherigan said in a statement. "For example, if data from the hard drives of disposed consumer electronic devices is not properly shredded and destroyed, personal information can easily be breached by identity thieves and our Homeland and National Security can even be put in senseless jeopardy."
He recommended that all hospitals should shred their data, a process that securely erases a hard disk or drive, overwriting the data so it is unrecoverable. Data shredding can be done either through a software or by a service.
ERI, a company that collects and destroys old electronic equipment based in Fresno, Calif., has eight facilities in the U.S. and processes 250 million pounds of electronic waste annually, according to the company.