For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Subscribe to
Computerworld 40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.
|
|
|
|
August 30, 2004 (Computerworld) -- How do you deal with the sensitive data on your high-tech junk? One way is to send your old PCs to a company that makes a business of handling decommissioned corporate computers. These days, they'll charge you an extra $10 to $30 just to make sure the hard disks are completely erased .
Sure, that's more than you want to spend. But it's a bargain compared with what a lawsuit might cost if sensitive customer information leaks out of your company on the unerased hard disk of a discarded PC. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind.
But if what you want is peace of mind, it's nowhere near enough.
Does that sound a little paranoid? Maybe it is. But I've purchased thrift-store PCs and junk-shop hard disks. And yes, I've scanned through their contents before repartitioning the drives. I've seen personal letters and business correspondence, contracts and legal papers, Social Security numbers and other customer data. All you need is to scan a few recycled hard disks to gain a healthy paranoia about junkers that contain valuable information. I've scanned dozens.
I've also seen the results of projects by researchers such as Simson Garfinkel at Sandstorm Enterprises, who found high-tech vendor source code, financial information from investment firms, thousands of credit card numbers and even internal Microsoft e-mails on secondhand hard disks he bought at swap meets and used-computer stores and on eBay.
So my peace-of-mind threshold is pretty high when it comes to data on high-tech junk. Maybe yours should be, too.
After all, that PC recycler may do a highly professional job of wiping your junked PCs' hard disks. But before that happens, those PCs will sit on your loading dock -- then on a truck, then on the recycler's loading dock. There may be plenty of opportunities for someone to walk off with your data.
How do you keep it safe until it's wiped? The simplest answer: Use a $50 commercial software package to wipe the disks yourself, before they go to your loading dock. Then pay the PC recycler's fee to have them wiped again. Sure, that's a belt-and-suspenders approach, but it cuts the risk of a stolen junker exposing sensitive data. It also eliminates the single point of failure of one disk-wiping session.
But that's not the only small price you'll have to pay to protect your data. There's probably data hiding on other high-tech junk, too.
Backup tapes are easy enough to deal with. You are using a $100 bulk eraser to wipe them before you trash them, right?
You can also use that to handle many kinds of recordable media that users copy sensitive data with. That means floppy disks, Zip disks and cartridges for lots of other removable-media magnetic drives.
Then there are recordable CDs and DVDs, the bane of any IT shop that's trying hard to keep from leaking data. They're high-capacity, unerasable, tough to destroy and easy to drop into the wastebasket -- which makes them easy pickings for anyone who decides to dig through your Dumpster.
How can you get rid of them? There's no simple, standard answer. People have tried microwaving, burning, sanding off the surface, even dissolving them in acetone. The easiest may be to run the disks through a heavy-duty paper shredder -- that will run you $500 or more, but your office probably already has one.
But before you can shred those CDs or erase those Zip disks, you have to collect them from users. They may think you're a little paranoid for trying to track down every piece of high-tech junk that might contain sensitive data.
Just remember: All it takes is one large dollop of that data in the wrong hands to make your worst fears a reality. Compared to that, users thinking you're paranoid really is a small price to pay.
Frank Hayes, Computerworld's senior news columnist, has covered IT for more than 20 years. Contact him at frank_hayes@computerworld.com.
|
Print this Story |
|
Send Us Feedback |
|
E-mail this Story |
|
Digg this Story |
|
Slashdot this Story |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone |
 See your link here
|
 |
||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Why SaaS is Vital to Email and Web Security
Download this Executive Bulletin (a $49.95 value) for free, compliments of MessageLabs.
Get this white paper now!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
- Microsoft promises four patches next week
- Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
- Expect iPhone, Fourth of July scams, security firm says
- More top stories
Security Management ZoneSecurity management is the process of developing a comprehensive data protection plan. It takes into account all potential threats, the existing network environment, the future needs of the organization, and lays out a multi-tiered blueprint to integrate the security technology needed to combat these threats. CDW can help keep your network and data secure. Visit the CDW Security Management Zone now See All Zones
|
 Fired up about IT? Join Sharkbait and share your true tales of IT. SharkBait is the place for you to sound off about everything IT – the good, the bad, and the rest of the weird stuff you deal with every day.New baits 
|
"Security Directions" virtual trade show2008's Code-Red Security Issues for Protecting the EnterpriseWebcasts, white papers, demos, and more. Presented in a unique 3-d environment. Enter our show right now! Click here to enter
|
 In SecuritySecurity's important, and risk must be addressed, right? Sure, but watch for four signs your policies go a bit overboard. Click here to read the latest column by Jon Espenschied |
CIO
Computerworld
CSO
DEMO
GamePro
Games.net
IDG Connect
IDG World Expo
Infoworld
The Industry Standard
ITworld
JavaWorld
LinuxWorld
MacUser
Macworld
Network World
PC World
Playlist
Copyright © 2008 Computerworld Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited.
Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are
trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
|
