Staples fails to protect customer privacy.
Posted Jun 21, 2011 9:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner says retail giant Staples is failing to protect the privacy of its customers.
An audit found stores were not fully wiping customer data from returned devices such as laptops and USB drivers before re-selling them.
The commissioner says the findings are disappointing because they investigated two previous complaints and found stores were not consistently implementing Staples’ new policies.
149 data storage devices were tested and over one-third still contained personal information.
SAIT School of Information and Communications Technologies instructor Harvey Peters tells 660News, the average person doesn’t realize that when they delete information, it often remains on the hard drive and can be undeleted.
Peters says it’s a good idea to try and get someone with technical knowledge who can remove the hard drive and either destroy it or run a wipe to ensure the data is erased.
He adds, people also don’t usually consider the security data they store on cellphones and upload onto community websites such as Facebook, is accessible from other servers throughout the world.
The commissioner has asked Staples to submit a third-party report on how they’ve complied with recommendations before June of next year.
Staples says they are actively testing several means of fully wiping the data.
