A critical aspect of securing intellectual property is timely elimination of information that have either been backed up or aren’t relevant to the user anymore. With computers getting an integral part of everyone’s lifestyle, safety of information is becoming a major concern. Gaining access to information that has been stored in computers after it is disposed off is quite easy and many companies and individuals have suffered as a result. Failure to dispose data devices can lead to serious security breaches and losses that are both intellectual and financial.
What is data destruction?
Data destruction can be defined
as the process that integrates physical and digital destruction of data stored
in hard disks, tapes and any other form of electronic recording media. Data
destruction is meant to make the hardware completely inaccessible, unreadable
and a piece of junk after all.
However, destroying digital
evidence isn’t that easy. There are several ways to do it and not all can be
considered to be reliable enough. In the most intricate case, just deletion of
data isn’t enough. The media needs to be overwritten with random blocks/spaces
such that the any trace of the original content is unreadable and
irretrievable. Data destruction as a service is highly relevant to many
companies, private departments, government data and other information that
needs to be completely eliminated.
Importance of data destruction
Data
destruction is as important as data storage. One doesn’t really know what
unsafely discarded information can do until it comes to hit back. In one of the
related high profile cases, a Scottish council was fines £250,000 when it was discovered
that they had been unable to dispose sensitive information and important documents
were found in supermarket waste bins. The information could have been used by
anyone and would have been a big threat to the nation as such. As we are fast
running into a world run by mobile and cloud platforms, the incidence of such
attacks can even be more. It is important that both companies and individuals
go for professional data destruction services when they are no longer in need
of a recording media, be it a smart phone or a computer.
Methods of data destruction
Data mediums as such can be destroyed
by a variety of processes, according to the sensitivity of the information.
Here are of the best processes to consider.
1. Overwriting
Overwriting is one of the most
common ways to erase data but it isn’t that credible. In case you are using the
media in the same office, household, it is advisable to go for this process.
Overwriting is cheap and is almost like formatting your computer and starting
afresh. Overwriting of data drives are done using special software and is the
fastest and cheapest way of disposal. Also, it involves recycling/reuse of the
media and is thus a highly recommended form of data destruction.
2. Degaussing
Degaussing is the process wherein
the magnetic field of the disk is physically removed / reduced to erase the
information. Degaussing makes data completely unrecoverable and is thoroughly
advised when dealing with highly sensitive and confidential information.
3. Physical
destruction
Physical destruction of data
involves magnetic strip melting, disk shredding and other processes that make
the hardware unusable and thus the data inaccessible. This method of
destruction presents the highest forms of assurance and in no likelihood can
anyone recover the information.
It is highly important that data
destruction is done by experienced service providers that provide full
confidentiality. Data destruction as such is cheap and also contributes to
towards minimizing e-wastes.
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