For Your Eyes Only: erasing sensitive computer data

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In the haste to upgrade and enhance IT systems, businesses and other organisations often neglect their duties regarding the secure disposal of computer equipment. From a security and risk perspective, especially with regard to confidentiality, privacy and the persistent danger of identity theft, the failure to purge sensitive data held on redundant and obsolete data processing and storage systems has led to many embarrassing incidents of information leakage, data misuse and fraud.

Computers and data storage media clearly require secure disposal. The inadvertent disclosure of company confidential information is embarrassing, undermines client confidence and in many jurisdictions is unlawful – in the European Union, for example, the disclosure of personal data constitutes an offence under data protection law.There exist, therefore, penalties in law for transgression, but most organisations discover to their cost that when leaks occur it is the impact upon their reputations that is most damaging.

The failure to destroy data prior to the disposal of computers has on occasions led to severe embarrassment, and has even been life threatening.

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