Information security is a battle on multiple fronts. Firewalls to prevent unauthorized remote access, passwords and fingerprint scanners to prevent unauthorized physical access, even padlocks to prevent lifting a whole machine from a secure site. There are systems in place to thwart a whole range of nefarious data thieves; expert hackers, moles, and cat burglars, respectively. But what about dumpster divers?
Keeping sensitive information out of the trash isn’t a new concept. Think HIPAA and patient privacy; you’ll be hard-pressed to find full medical records in a garbage can behind your local hospital. But for all that our IT and security experts do for us on a daily basis, their expert guidance tends to lapse when it comes to disposing of last year’s Crown Jewels. Maybe nobody thinks to ask them before tossing out dated technology, eager for shiny new equipment, or maybe the IT team is too concerned with setting new fiend traps on new machines. Either way, as you read this, there are orchards of severely low-hanging fruit for your everyday crook looking to break into the data-theft game.
Getting rid of out-dated computers tends to go something like this: backup all the data, wipe the hard drives clean, hock a “Lot of 20 Dell Laptops” on eBay to buy a new coffee maker for the break room. Nice and tidy, right? Not quite.
Hard drive erasers
When you’re ready for shock-and-awe, do a Google search for “hard drive uneraser”. Don’t let the pages and pages of “free demo” and “free trial” throw you off, there are freeware version readily available to those determined enough to look. The war between hard drive erasers and unerasers is just as alive as between viruses and anti-virus software. Is it really enough to hope the next owner of the once-protected hard drive isn’t out to crack its valuable buried contents?
So here’s the full scenario in a nutshell. Company Inc. decides to upgrade their computers. Out with the old, in with the new. The old hard disks are “carefully” erased before either being thrown away or sold as refurbished. Savvy dumpster divers and auction hunters easily get their hands on these old hard drives. Using widely available software, the “erased” contents become the data thieves next meal ticket, and a more than a big headache for the unaware victims.
Don’t quit your day job because you just discovered the blueprint for a successful life of crime; there are solutions out there far better than the hard disk eraser. They’re called hard disk crushers. Destroy, shred, and protect data the right way — with NSA prescribed brute force. Contact us for more information
