Small businesses holding onto customer data for no reason

Speaker 1 (01:16):

A cyber security expert says far too many small businesses hold too much information about things they don't need. It comes as the country comes under increasing cyber attacks, with criminals looking to mine personal data. Vertech IT Services' managing director, Daniel Watson, says businesses holding onto old data that they don't need creates unnecessary risk for the public.

Daniel Watson (01:46):

If the only reason why you're retaining customer information is perhaps for marketing purposes later on, then, do you still need to retain, perhaps, the additional information such as date of birth, driver's license details, other ancillary stuff, right, that you might have collected as... might have been necessary as part of the initial transaction.

Speaker 1 (02:07):

Daniel Watson says penalties for privacy breaches can hurt, with fines from $10,000 up to $350,000 for a class action.