Data breaches cause businesses, on average, $3.92 million per data breach. It can destroy company reputations and violate consumer privacy. A major mistake that businesses, especially smaller businesses on a tight budget, make is relying on a hard disk eraser to delete data off of a hard drive.
What is a Hard Disk Eraser?
An “eraser” is a type of software that will clean or remove data from a hard drive. KillDisk is a common option. The software will attempt to destroy data on a hard disk by writing over the disk multiple times.
When data is deleted, or a disk is formatted, it’s still possible to recover deleted files.
Data remains until it is overwritten, so discarding of a formatted hard drive leaves businesses at significant risk.
KillDisk, and similar software, will overwrite data multiple times so that data becomes irretrievable. While effective for home use, this type of software is not suitable for businesses where employee error can occur.
Scaling Data Destruction
Offices with hundreds or even dozens of computers need to be able to destroy hard drives in a way that scales. Relying on employees to run eraser software is a liability waiting to happen.
If an employee has to destroy files on a Friday before clocking out, it’s possible that they’ll “skip” erasing the hard drive and discard it.
It only takes one hard drive to cause billions in liability risks.
The ideal form of data destruction involves crushing or destroying the hard drive.
Through hard drive destruction, we’re able to rapidly destroy hard drives at-scale. There are no lazy oversights or time wasted trying to erase hard disks. Companies can go a step further by using tags to identify drives that need to be destroyed and incorporating internal policies for data destruction.
Contact us today to discuss your hard drive destruction needs.
