When you think about your organization’s cybersecurity, it’s mostly about safeguarding data and not destroying it. But a crucial part of any company’s cybersecurity practice is data destruction. This is because it hinders essential documents such as personally identifiable information or intellectual property and financial records from falling into the wrong hands.
And especially now that we have Covid-19, you should become more proactive in safeguarding your data because hackers are not on lockdown; they keep inventing new ways of hacking. The last thing you want in such a season is to become a victim of cyber-attacks. To protect your organization, it’s, therefore, crucial to know what to do with the data no longer needed in your organization.
What Is Data Destruction?
Simply put, data destruction is all about deciding what to do with all the stored data when you no longer need it or you want to dispose of or replace. Data destruction matters to your company’s cybersecurity because ineffectively destroyed data is a breach waiting to happen. Effective data destruction means that all data from physical hardware is purged out before devices are sold, replaced, or recycled. Likewise, you should also destroy obsolete data stored in the Cloud and on networks for security and organizational best practices.
Main Types of Data Destruction
To efficiently destroy data, just deleting a file is not enough. While the file might not be viewable in a specific folder, it’s likely stored on the memory chip or a device’s hard drive. Therefore, to make sure that an application or operating system can no longer read the data, there are three ways to destroy it:
- Degaussing
This requires you to use a special tool called a degausser to reduce or remove the magnetic field related to the storage disk, rendering the data inside unrecoverable and unreadable. You should be careful to choose one designed for your particular storage device.
- Overwriting
This means replacing old data with new. The method only works when the medium of storage is writable and undamaged as well as when you plan to continue using the medium instead of reselling or throwing it away.
- Physical Destruction
This means striking your storage device with something heavy and hard like a hammer. The method can, however, be time and cost-consuming.
Bottom Line
Data destruction should never be overlooked. The data that is no longer useful in your organization is a goldmine for cyber-criminals. Destroying data is thus crucial as it saves your business from financial and reputational harm.
Trust The Professionals at Phiston for Data Destruction Services
As a well-skilled and expert IT support team, we can advise and guide you on a successful data destruction process. Additionally, as a champion of inclusion, diversity, modernization and innovation, we take pride in our products, services and team.
Contact us today to learn more about our data destruction products that best suits your needs.
