Despite data breach lawsuits frequently in the news, there are still businesses that dispose of computers and other electronic equipment with confidential data. Some companies discard devices and systems after presuming they took the proper measures to remove all of the data.

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) recently completed a study on 250 discarded computers hard drives, and tablets, and found that 40 percent still contained personally identifiable information (PII), of the original owners of the hardware.

Personal and Corporate credit card data and contact information, as well as user ID’s with passwords and tax records, were still accessible on 50% of the tablets, 44% of the hard drives and 13% of the mobile phones.

According to IBM’s 13th annual Cost of Data Breach study, this year’s study reports the global average cost of a data breach is up 6.4 percent over the previous year to $3.86 million. The average price for each lost or stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information also increased by 4.8 percent year over year to $148 million.

Data can be breached intentionally or through an unintended security vulnerability which can cost you and/or your company millions of dollars in legal fees and destroy your credibility as a person or business.