Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Best Practices for Mayors, Reeves, Councillors and School Board Members. Effective 27 Dec. 2017. Updated 02 Oct. 2023. 6 When going through the process of destruction, an Elected Official should also destroy all associated copies and backup files. Types of Data Storage Information is mainly stored in two types of formats: • Hard copy: physical representations of data, such as paper. This includes, among other things, notes, memos, messages, correspondence, transaction records and reports. • Electronic copy: information stored on electronic media, such as computer servers, hard drives, copier and printer hard drives, removable solid drives including memory, and USB flash drives, mobile phones and magnetic tapes. There are several ways in which personal information can be securely deleted or removed by completely destroying the media, whether hard or electronic copy. It is a way to ensure that the information stored on it can never be recovered. This can be accomplished using a variety of methods including disintegration, incineration, pulverizing, shredding using a cross-shed shredder, melting and overwriting. If personal information is stored on a cloud server, deleting the record may not delete the personal information from the cloud. Depending on the cloud service provider used, there may be different processes or permissions to permanently, immediately (there may be a grace period) delete the information. Some cloud service providers may offer additional options to prevent the information from being recovered (such as overwriting the information). Use of Third Parties An Elected Official should assess the risks and benefits of destroying personal information on-site or off-site. If an Elected Official does not have appropriate tools to safely destroy sensitive information on-site, it may consider the services of a third-party contractor. In some cases, the sheer volume of the personal information to be disposed of can tip the balance towards using companies specialized in data destruction. Third parties, in this context, are sometimes referred to as information management service providers.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgwMjYzOA==