In the two months following the introduction of GDPR, 45 per cent of hospitality businesses have failed to wipe the memory off redundant IT equipment before disposal.
Despite GDPR legislation having come into effect over four months ago, the majority of UK hospitality businesses are now risking penalties by failing to adhere to some of the rules.
According to a survey of 1,002 UK workers in full or part-time employment, carried out by Probrand.co.uk, a large proportion (45 per cent) of businesses in the hospitality industry failed to wipe the data from IT equipment they disposed of in the two months following GDPR.
This news is perhaps less surprising given the research also found that 97 per cent of hospitality businesses surveyed did not have an official process or protocol for disposing of obsolete IT equipment. What’s more, 97 per cent of hospitality workers admit they wouldn’t even know who to approach within their company in order to correctly dispose of old or unusable equipment.
Worryingly, according to the data, hospitality businesses are one of the industries most likely not to wipe existing data off old IT equipment.
Matt Royle, marketing director at Probrand.co.uk said: “Given the amount of publicity around GDPR it is arguably impossible to be unaware or misunderstand the basics of what is required for compliance. So, it is startling to discover just how many businesses are failing to both implement and follow some of the simplest data protection practices.
“This is especially startling to see from businesses within the hospitality sector, where sensitive customer information including address details and card numbers are handled all the time. The fines involved in a GDPR breach can potentially run into the millions – and what appear to be less tangible impactors, like reputational damage, customer trust and loyalty, will ultimately become financially significant.”
Main image credit: Pixabay
