It’s easy to click a button and see your hard drive get erased in minutes, but in reality, the data doesn’t disappear and remains exposed, even after you install your new software.
Data security has become a big topic of discussion with so many businesses looking to protect personal information and erase details securely before it can fall into the hands of hackers. It’s often the case that hard drives have been stolen, and the information leaked on the web with hundreds and sometimes even millions of records being exposed online.
So why is software not the way to go when erasing data? Simply because software can’t physically remove the data from the medium. It can only write over it with a new layer of information. This means that information like passwords, patient records, phone numbers and addresses can be found and harvested by hackers or criminal organizations. The risk is that businesses may not even know that data is being harvested from some of their older systems.
Often, hard drives are left in unsecured storage or even sit in old computers waiting to be recycled. However, hard drives get removed from these devices, re-purposed, and sometimes used by organizations involved in unlawful activity.
How can a business stop this from happening? By using a technique called ‘degaussing’ where a hard drive gets completely erased and all the data is wiped clean. Hard drive degaussers provide an enhanced way of deleting data off a hard drive through magnetic fields. Sure, it may not suit everyone, but for businesses looking to protect and erase the information they hold, it’s the ultimate solution.
Companies specializing in degaussing like Verity Systems have been the industry pioneers of the technology for the last several decades, and following on from GDPR, it’s now more important than ever for people to realize the value of their data, and why their employers should be taking measures to protect their information.
Have you ever degaussed a hard drive to erase your data?