127 tons of electronic junk… in just 2 months!!

“India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has intercepted five huge containers of old computer parts being dumped illegally in Chennai in just two months. Altogether it has found 127 tonnes of e-waste, much of which contains nickel, mercury and lead and could be linked to environmental damage as well as health concerns for”

read more…

Why are we dumping our old junk on China, India and Africa?  People in my neighborhood complain about a new water tower… Just imagine if someone dumped 127 tons of electronic scrap at the end of the block!!  This has got to stop!!

Source… 23 Aug 2010 14:23 | by a staff writer | posted in Business Read more: http://www.techeye.net/business/chennai-india-being-used-as-e-waste-dumping-ground#ixzz0xipo1mvT

There’s a ton of great information here from the Environmental Science & Technology Journal… following is a brief synopsis from their web site, click the link for further information… good reading for just before bed time… it gets pretty technical… The long and short of it… There are a lot of obsolete computers out there, and the outlook is for an increase.  Environmentally sound recycling practice is a critical issue

E-Scrap 2010: Emerging economies, growing waste stream

Electronic waste (e-waste) has emerged as a new policy priority around the world. Motivations to address e-waste include rapidly growing waste streams, concern over the environmental fate of heavy metals and other substances in e-waste, and impacts of informal recycling in developing countries. Policy responses to global e-waste focus on banning international trade in end-of-life electronics, the premise being that e-waste is mainly generated in the developed world and then exported to the developing world. Sales of electronics have, however, been growing rapidly in developing nations, raising the question of whether informal recycling in developing countries driven by international trade or domestic generation. This paper addresses this question by forecasting the global generation of obsolete personal computers (PCs) using the logistic model and material flow analysis. Results show that the volume of obsolete PCs generated in developing regions will exceed that of developed regions by 2016−2018. By 2030, the obsolete PCs from developing regions will reach 400−700 million units, far more than from developed regions at 200−300 million units. Future policies to mitigate the impacts of informal recycling should address the domestic situation in developing countries.

Source, References and Credits.

RenovoData Services is partnering with The Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce and the Edina Chamber of Commerce to provide Electronics Recycling and Free Hard Drive Shredding at the event.

• When – August 19th 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Where – Grace Church – 9301 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 (map)
• What :

1. Recycling of PC’s & Laptops, Cell Phones, Small Printers, Small Office Devices at no charge.
2. Recycling of Monitors, Large Printers, TV’s and small appliances at 35 cents per pound.

This recycling event will take place in support of the E-Shared Partnership Event – Progressive Networking Luncheon…. see details below..

Registration: Click here to Register | or call (952)-944-2830
Price: Members: $25, Non-Members: $40

1. A 60 second commercial about your business
2. A large stack of business card

Great post by Evan Francen @ FRSecure

Information security is serious business… It seems that it takes events like the one described here by Evan Francen at FRSecure, to get peoples attention… but wait… “This could never happened to us”…. really?

Victims:

“patients who received medical services at South Shore Hospital – as well as employees, physicians, volunteers, donors, vendors and other business partners associated with South Shore Hospital – between January 1, 1996 and January 6, 2010″

Number Affected:

“approximately 800,000″

Types of Data:

“individuals’ full names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, patient numbers, health plan information, dates of service, protected health information including diagnoses and treatments relating to certain hospital and home health care visits, and other personal information. Bank account information and credit card numbers for a very small subset of individuals also may have been on the back-up computer files”

Breach Description:

“Back-up computer files containing personal, health and financial information of thousands affiliated with South Shore Hospital may have been lost by a professional data management company.”

The rest of the story…

About FRSecure:

FRSecure LLC is a full-service information security consulting company. We are dedicated to providing value to our clients through well designed, implemented, and managed information security solutions. Our mission statement:

We take the time to understand our client’s business and align information security initiatives with their goals and objectives. In so doing, our clients benefit from solutions that help to drive business and add to the bottom line. Information security does have to be a cost center.

FRSecure works with businesses of all sizes, in all industries. We understand that our clients are in business to make money, so we design secure solutions that drive business, protect sensitive information assets, and improve their bottom line.

Shredded hard drives and back-up tapes will tell no tale…  Here’s an article highlighting the importance of the need for securing physical information assets…

Jul 14, 2010 | 04:50 PM

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading

Two Major Breaches Caused By Loss Of Physical Media

Online attacks might be getting more sophisticated every day, but two incidents last week are reminding the industry that the loss of physical storage media is still among the most common causes of data breaches.

Recent studies indicate that the theft of physical media remains one of the most common causes of data breaches. Both AMR and the California DHCS have discovered that the hard way.

read more…

Great article by Howard Fosdick…

Scandal: Most “Recycled” Computers are Not Recycled
posted by Howard Fosdick on Wed 7th Jul 2010 16:58 UTC

Last month, I described how the computer industry encourages planned obsolescence in order to sell more product. This business model exacerbates the problem of computer disposal because it artificially shortens computer lifespans. This increases production and, ultimately, the numbers requiring disposal. One result is that  e-waste — electronics waste — is one now one of our most pressing environmental challenges.

There are about one billion PC’s in use worldwide. There are an additional several hundred million sitting in basements and attics awaiting disposal. Given average lifespans of only two to five years, a tidal wave of computers requiring disposal sweeps towards us. In the United States, the vast majority will not properly disposed of.

What toxins do consumer PC’s contain? Where do they end up? And what can you do about it?

Read More…

Howard Fosdick (President, FCI) is an independent consultant who specializes in databases and operating systems. He’s been active in computer reuse and recycling as a hobby for over fifteen years.

1295 Drives Shredded This Morning, at the customer’s location… “zero” data breach, “zero” landfill. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day!!  – Please call us or click the “quote request” button on the right side of this page.

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Congress is talking information security seriously. Working on legislation that would impose very stiff fines and possible prison time incidents related to breech of personal information. Here is a clip from SBD, Storage and Destruction Magazine. Follow the link below for additional information.

“House bill 2221, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush, would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to publicize regulations requiring people and corporations engaged in interstate commerce who own or are in possession of electronic data that contains personal information to establish security policies and procedures. The legislation also would authorize the FTC to require the standard method or methods for destroying obsolete nonelectronic data and would require information brokers to submit their security policies to the FTC in the case of a security breach notification or at the request of the FTC. The FTC would be required to audit an organization’s security practices following a breach. ”

https://www.sdbmagazine.com/news/news.asp?ID=9307&AdKeyword=data+security+bill

RenovoData Services is now a National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) member. As you may remember from our last post… we ran into a snag with regard to our NAID membership. The confusion has been cleared up and we have been approved as a NAID member. We proudly put the logo back on our web site, and we are proud to belong to NAID.

RenovoData Services will host a one-day event on Saturday, November 14, to collect and dispose of electronic devices that hold private data. Data breaches don’t happen just to large companies. Think of all the tasks for which you use your computer or PDA—these devices contain a lot of personal data.

Please note, our event is not for all types of e-waste. For a small fee, RenovoData Services will collect only the following:
- Computers—$10, including its monitor, keyboard and/or mouse
- Printers or additional monitors—$10
- Computer hard drives—$10. Hard drives will be shredded on-site if removed from the case
- Personal digital assistants (PDAs) or cell phones—no charge
- Flash drives—no charge

Date: November 14, 2009

Hours: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Location: Education Center, 8040 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, Minn., 55344 (enter off Technology Drive, west of Mitchell Road)
Bring us your old, unused cell phones and help the Quarter Million Phone Project!

Keep your cell phone out of the landfill and safeguard your personal data. We will repurpose or recycle your cell phone, and we guarantee it will not be incinerated or dumped into a landfill.

Help us reach our goal to collect a quarter of a million cell phones.