What is the Only Sure Way to Destroy Data?

And there goes your confidential data, intellectual property and trade secrets. It’s time to look at your hard drive in a new perspective. It’s useful when you’re using it, but once gone, can be a terrifying threat, especially in the wrong hands.

Considering the fast pace of innovation and research, most computers and hardware get obsolete within four to five years. Many a time, while upgrading their computer networks, people and organizations simply dispose off their old hard drives, donate them to charities or sell them on eBay. They often fail to realize that the hard drives they got rid of so easily may contain sensitive information like credit card numbers, business plans, trade secrets, personal health records, emails, bank statements, pictures and utility bills, which can be misused to commit crimes. The sophisticated data recovery software available in the market can be used by anybody to retrieve the confidential information saved on the discarded hard drives. Compromise of highly sensitive personal and financial information can lead to crimes such as frauds, extortion and identity theft. In the last one year only, approximately 7 to 10 million people suffered identity theft.

Most of the time people act irresponsibly out of lack of awareness. It is astonishing to know that though computers have infiltrated almost every sphere of contemporary life, still there are only a few users who have a nominal knowledge about the way computers work. Yet, this very lack of awareness can make all the difference between survival and bankruptcy. Many a time, people think that once they have deleted their files, they get erased forever or if they empty their recycle bins, the sensitive data deleted by them vanishes once and for all. The fact is that even after you delete your files, the data continues to reside on the hard drive and can easily be retrieved. Even formatting the hard drive won’t serve the purpose. Formatted hard drives can easily be recovered. A study by Simson Garfinkel in 1998 revealed that most of the hard drives discarded by individuals and organizations tend to retain a lot of vital data, which can be recovered by any person interested in doing so. A recent survey suggests that approximately 30 percent of the discarded hard drives may contain sensitive information.

While upgrading, most of the institutions and organizations tend to rely on the experts hired by them to sanitize their hard disks. These experts often sell the old hard disks in the market or use them for other purposes, instead of destroying them. Many a time, employees are not properly trained in data destruction techniques. However, there exists relevant technology in the market which can be used to properly sanitize the hard disks that are to be disposed off. Some of the popular techniques used to wipe out the hard drives are:

1) Software

There is software available on the internet that can be used to erase the old hard drives. This software simply overwrites the hard disks with meaningless data comprising of binary 0s and 1s. This is the most cost effective method to sanitize hard disks. The major problem is that this software may get infected with viruses that can hinder the process of erasing data.

2) Hardware

Most of the hardware duplicators are equipped with a wipe out option that can be used to erase hard drives. It is a fast and reliable method, but is expensive and requires some expertise on the part of the user.

3) Degaussing

It involves using a strong magnetic field to remove the data stored on the hard disks.

4) Physical Destruction

Drilling holes into a hard disk or shattering it to pieces with a sledgehammer is another viable option. So come on, what are you waiting for?

5) Forensic Companies

One can hire some reputed forensic company to wipe out the old hard disks.

So next time you buy a new computer, remember to show proper respect towards your old hard disk and give it a proper burial. Otherwise, God help you!

About the Author

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see http://www.fieldsassociates.co.uk