The online landscape is ever-changing. New threats are emerging every day, from viruses to cyberattacks to network breaches. You need a plan in place that can keep your company secure and out of harm’s way. Secure data destruction in Malaysia and all over the world should be an integral part of protecting the information assets of a company. This article discusses the importance of data destruction and how it boosts security.
Ways of Destroying Data
There are three main ways of eliminating digital data: degaussing, overwriting, and physical destruction.
Degaussing
This method involves using a magnet to scramble the data on a magnetic or optical medium, such as a hard disk. It’s done by placing the media in a degausser and exposing it to an electromagnetic field up to about 1 tesla, wiping away all the information that was previously stored there. The best thing about this method is that it doesn’t destroy the media and is non-invasive.
Overwriting Data
Overwriting data is another method of erasing data. It’s usually referred to as a secure deletion because it involves writing over all areas of a storage hard drive to make its contents unrecoverable. Overwriting is useful for permanent removal of data, but it should only be used when it is essential. It works best with file shredding methods. The advantage of this method is that it prevents any data recovery because all areas of the hard drive are overwritten.
Physical Destruction
This is the most secure way to destroy data although it can be time-consuming and expensive. It involves destroying a drive in a way that makes recovery of any data impossible. There are multiple ways of physically destroying a hard drive. Some examples include shredding drive with a shredder, destroying with a drill, melting down the platter, cutting the platters into bits, or using an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to wipe data. You can also submerge your drive in a liquid, like acid.
If you are looking to destroy multiple drives or need them wiped in a short amount of time, using an external hard drive self-destruct device is an affordable and easy way to make sure the data isn’t recovered.
How Data Destruction Improves Security
Data destruction can make your company secure in many ways. Here are a few.
Maintains Data Confidentiality
Your business’ data needs to be kept private from unauthorized individuals. SPW data destruction ensures that no one will have access to the information after it has been properly discarded. Some types of digital information you can destroy include sensitive corporate information such as customer lists and company financials, personal health information such as patient records, and confidential legal documents.
Employees’ computers are another important target for data destruction. It’s possible that employees of your company may lose sensitive information by accident, intentionally give it to an unauthorized individual, or fall victim to a phishing scam that results in private information being leaked. Data destruction can prevent this from occurring and ensure all the data on an employee’s computer is not accessible to unauthorized individuals.
Decreases Risk of Identity Theft
Identity theft is a very real threat today. With sensitive information like social security numbers and banking account information in databases everywhere, it’s possible for thieves to use them for fraud, violence, and other crimes.
Data destruction is an effective way to decrease risks associated with identity theft. It ensures that hard drives, memory cards, and other types of storage media are destroyed. Removing such vital identifiers from all your records will decrease your risk of identity theft and fraud.
Apart from protecting your company from identity theft, data destruction can also protect you from hacking. As technology continues to evolve, hackers and other cybercriminals are finding new ways to get around your security to hack your systems. They do this by hacking the software in your computer’s RAM or on a hard drive, sending an email with an embedded vulnerability, or any number of other methods.
Hard drives are the greatest targets for hackers because they store all of your data, including your passwords and other sensitive information. Incorporating SPW data destruction into your regular data management can prevent access to any of this information.
Reduces Liability for Companies
Most firms store their customer’s and business partners’ sensitive information in their hard drives. If any of this data is leaked or lands in unauthorized hands, your company can be sued for breaching the trust of its customers, and for disclosing information without due authorization. You don’t want this to happen because it may make your firm lose its credibility, have a tarnished reputation, or experience a drop in sales. Some of your customers may also opt to do business with your competitors.
To prevent this from happening, ensure that all the sensitive data stored in your company’s computers are completely destroyed on a regular basis. In fact, as per GDPR Data Protection, a law concerning the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, you should create a policy regarding how frequently this should be done.
The Bottom Line
Data destruction is an important aspect of computer security. Your company should embrace it to be safe from cyber-attack