Love it or hate it, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was enacted as a reaction to major financial scandals which shook public confidence and cost investors billions of dollars. The high-profile data security breach of Equifax has certainly shaken public confidence. The announced 143 million records compromised has prompted some to call for a “cyber Sarbanes-Oxley.” A Cyber-SOX could have similar benefits for data security that SOX had for financial security.

As businesses struggle with strained budgets, information technology departments are becoming overworked and understaffed. This combination of factors has led to an alarming vulnerability in the security of company data resident on equipment destined for retirement. Before you dispose of IT equipment, consider these possible revisions in policy and procedures that could protect your company against data leakage.

Google, “hacks to improve” and you will find a million shortcuts to improve almost any aspect of your life – your credit score, public speaking, or memory to name just a few. Finding ways to make your organization’s IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) program effective is not as easy, so we created them for you. We learned these “hacks” by studying our last 8,000 projects and observing how the most effective clients approach the management of ITAD.

In 1900, had Ford asked someone how to improve personal transportation, I’m sure they would have appreciated a better and faster horse. Most people could not have imagined the transportation transformation brought on by the car or airplane. Much like the cars and airplanes then, most people have not yet imagined how a multi-vendor approach can transform ITAD.

I’m a fan of Michael Lewis. If you don’t know him, he’s a very talented author who is best known for The Big Short and Moneyball. His latest book, The Undoing Project, explores the extraordinary work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. How does The Undoing Project relate to ITAD? First…

ITAM benefits by treating ITAD as a data security threat. Educating senior management about the risks will secure IT asset managers the resources needed to prevent an ITAD-related breach. To ensure adequate safeguards are in place, IT asset managers should consider treating ITAD as if it were an inevitable security incident.

Organizations constantly replace outdated computers and countless types of electronic devices to keep up with technology and enhance worker productivity. This rush to upgrade, however, creates a challenge: large numbers of excess electronics must be managed and disposed of properly.

When an organization fails to maintain proper oversight mistakes happen. Outsourcing can actually increase the risks and leave organizations with a false sense of security.

We always hope relationships will last forever in business, but that is not always the case. Anyone involved with IT asset disposition (ITAD) knows how once-trusted vendors can become unresponsive, get acquired, get into trouble, or simply go out-of-business.

The reality is, you need to be prepared at any time to switch ITAD vendors. Even if you are not forced to switch, there comes a time when change might be necessary.

My daughter Olivia is like most first graders. She is confident and adventurous and, at times, defiant.

When risks are low, I prefer she learn from experience. The school of hard knocks can teach valuable lessons.

When it comes to security and safety, however, the cost is too high to let her learn the hard way. As parents, we instruct but lay down the law.

How do you sum up what Retire-IT does in two words?

When I was working on this summary, I called it the “Final Check-Out.” My nine-year-old son Ryan sings it better than I can write it.

Ryan saw it and immediately asked me if it had to do with the “Final Countdown!” Remember that Swedish rock band Europe and their one-hit wonder? Don’t ask me when he got into 1980’s big-hair glam metal. Actually no, he’s not. He heard it on a GEICO TV ad.

Why do I think Retire-IT can be explained as The Final Check-Out?