Healthcare sector leads way in Fraud Protection
Healthcare sector leads way in Fraud Protection
| recycling today |
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| 7/26/2005 – The healthcare sector is the most responsible in the UK when it comes to the disposal of information and the most up-to-date with the Data Protection Legislation according to research by Coleman Parkes, commissioned by Fellowes, leading manufacturer of personal and office shredders.
Seventy seven percent of companies in the healthcare sector have a fully documented policy for the secure disposal of key information and 86 percent of those questioned claim they strictly adhered to it. The most popular approach to the secure disposal of information is shredding with 94 percent of healthcare respondents either shredding documents themselves or saving them for a third party to shred. Tyron Hill, senior European product manager from Fellowes, comments: “The ideal of the paperless office has yet to become a reality. In fact, it seems we are using and disposing of more paper today than ever before. With increased communication in all forms, we have seen increased rates of corporate crime, from anti money laundering to credit card fraud which totalled over £500 million in 2004. Now with criminals using ‘bin raiding’ as a way to access corporate information even a company’s rubbish is becoming a security risk.” The healthcare sector stands ahead in contrast to the rest of UK businesses with 62 percent of company’s admitting they do not dispose of information properly and 36 percent of businesses being unaware of recent changes or updates to the Data Protection Legislation. Although three per cent of healthcare professionals questioned claimed their business did not have any sort of policy in place for the secure disposal of key information. Forty-nine per cent of companies questioned agreed their knowledge of the Data Protection Act is detailed and fully up to date while 24 percent admitted their knowledge needs brushing up. A further 23 percent are working towards compliance and will be there soon while 18% of SOHO workers did not know they needed to change their approach and have a lot of work still to do! An earlier poll, carried out on behalf of Fellowes by Populus, showed the full extent of the public’s concern about Britain’s fastest growing crime. 81 percent of the British public are concerned about becoming a victim of identity theft, and 87 percent believe the Government should help by issuing clear guidelines to individuals and businesses detailing the most effective ways to destroy information containing personal details. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 |