Information hoarding can have monetary and safety penalties – Computerworld

With 144 nations now having information privateness and safety laws in place as of January 2025, and ongoing strikes to control synthetic intelligence, regulatory compliance grew to become the highest motive for altering end-of-life information administration practices. It was cited by 38% of organizations globally. Sustainability, together with that pushed by regulatory necessities, got here a detailed second at 34%.

Moreover, the survey stated, solely 21% of enterprise information is tagged and labeled, making it troublesome to inform how a lot of it’s redundant, out of date, or trivial, and thus ripe for removing. Many organizations retain an excessive amount of information, with solely 53% of respondents saying they destroy information as soon as it’s now not wanted for enterprise functions.

There may be excellent news too. The survey discovered that 58% of enterprises surveyed have elevated their investments in information privateness and safety prior to now 12 months, by a mean 46%, noting that there was no single funding set off: “For many, it’s the buildup of recent guidelines, new applied sciences, and mounting expectations round accountable information and {hardware} disposal.”