Wisetek Store: Our Refurbished Devices are GDPR Compliant

Wisetek Store: Our Refurbished Devices are GDPR Compliant

Gaurav Nagpal |

As experts in wiping data, you can be guaranteed that our refurbished devices are completely sanitised of any data.

Four years ago, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in the EU and has had a massive impact in terms of corporate behaviour. As companies face substantial fines for mishandling data, they have become extremely conscious of who or what has access to their corporate devices.

The GDPR has reinforced that our data is valuable and therefore companies must value it too. And value it to the very end of their devices’ lifecycle.

The Frontline of Data

As Wisetek Store is part of Wisetek, we’re very familiar with the lifecycle of devices. For over a decade, we’ve been managing devices for our Fortune 500 clients around the world. We manage our clients’ devices in many ways from refurbishing to recycling them, to sanitising data and shredding hard drives.

With this experience, we’re on the frontline of data, the very coalface of the GDPR. Our customers rely on us to ensure that the data which must be wiped is sanitised to the highest professional level. This is a responsibility we don’t take lightly, nor do our customers. For if we fail to sanitise a device and a data breach happens, our clients will still be in breach of the GDPR and face a hefty fine.

Data Removal

The bulk of our refurbished devices come from Wisetek’s Fortune 500 clients which range from tech companies to banking, healthcare to insurance, among others. When we source our devices from such clients, they trust us to ensure that they are sanitised and all sensitive data has been removed.

There are different approaches to the removal of data which exists on devices. Some people believe that a simple ‘factory reset’ will do the job – this couldn’t be further from the truth.

In order to completely wipe all existing data from a device, it must be sanitised properly using the latest technology. Sanitisation involves the permanent erasure of data from a device, and it is done in a secure way. In short, the data is removed and the device - once the operating system and such files are restored – is ready for use. In short, sanitisation does not harm the workings of a device.

GPDR and Data Erasure

When we source devices from our clients, they have twofold confidence in Wisetek Store. 

Firstly, they know that we are offering them a great price for the devices. And secondly, they trust us that any GDPR data which once existed on a device will be utterly removed as per the latest technology. It’s a win-win.
And as for our customers who buy our professional refurbished devices, they do so knowing that the device won’t contain any data from another company. Nor will the devices be linked to a previous user’s profile which may cause issues with signing in to a PC or laptop, for example.

While our refurbished devices are rated on a scale ranging from New to Good, this only describes the hardware. The software which powers the devices is not only free of previous data, files, and potential malware, as it has been sanitised, it will contain the latest, unused version of the operating system. You can’t get safer than that.