Krist S
The amount of footprint left by a company can be heard to measure. The firms don’t only have the data and backup of their computers to sort through but also the data locked in their cloud services, mobiles, and other such devices. This data not only has to be managed when they are in transit but also at the end of their lifetime. Secure data destruction is as important as creating an environment of secure networks for data transmission.
Say you have used computers for sale at home; you don’t want that whoever you sell it to be able to access your old photos, documents, files, etc. Similarly for an organization, the data may no longer be in use by the company officials, however they still contains bits and pieces of company’s confidentiality and may be still be classified as sensitive information. Thus, you may not be using it but you don’t want that any third party to use it as well as it can harm your company’s reputation.
So, it is safe to say that not erasing your data can lead to a catastrophe. Even if you don’t think so, each piece has a physical form. Even if you can’t see it on screen, there is still a possibility that it is still saved in hard drive which can be exploited any time if proper care is not taken. Therefore, businesses should keep in mind that at the end of the life cycle, you not only remove the trace of the data from wherever it is shared but also wipe it completely at their origin. To do this, it is important that you have properly track your data the whole time it is transmitted.
The task may sound a simple one. Even a person with little tech knowledge knows that you can always factory reset your laptop, computer, or mobile devices. However in reality, it is not that simple. The task can be quite complex, especially when the scale of data is huge. You may use these simple settings to erase the data and sit at ease. Nevertheless, it doesn’t guarantee that the data is gone. With a simple software solution, the data can get back on your network without you finding out. For individuals who don’t store important information on devices, this may not be that big a threat but as mentioned before, for an organization, this may be a start for an impending doom.
Therefore, companies when investing in data security should also invest in how the data will be treated when it reaches its end of use. And many companies are doing just that. They employ third party software solutions or are hiring IT experts to handle their data security and successfully wipe it without any traces left at the end if their usability. You may have known why data security is important but now that you are also aware about the significance of secure data destruction, it is important that you start taking the necessary measures.
