4 Essential End-of-Life Data Destruction Tips for Your Electronic Devices
The outdated office PC you are about to trash may hold tons of crucial information. Other electronics such as hard drives, printers, flash disks and copiers are just but a few devices that store essential data. When they find their way in the wrong hands, crucial information such as financial records, addresses, phone numbers and passwords can be compromised. It's thus prudent to destroy data stored in these devices to avert any security breaches.
To ensure you've fully gotten rid of the data when electronic devices reach their end of life, consider these four tips to achieve optimum data destruction.
Educate Your Team Members on the Importance of Data Security
Do your due diligence by educating all staff on the importance of data security, since one weak link can be devastating to your company. Hold a series of consultative security meetings with staff from all departments.
Establish specific rules and policies that protect vital data against information leaks and theft if your employees carry the computers home. Furthermore, if staff purchase their computers after an upgrade, ensure all hard drives are wiped clean before disposal.
Use Professional Data Erasure Software
Most computers come with a built-in reformatting function you can use to erase your data. But when disposing of your devices for recycling, avoid using this function. Instead, consider purchasing a premium data erasure software that can perform a clean data wipe on your drives. The best software to consider should be saved inside a USB drive and can be plugged in your computer's USB port when erasing data.
Degauss or Shred Your Electronic Devices
While this may be new to you, there are professional companies that can shred or degauss your hard drives. Degaussing is generally the elimination of a drive's magnetic field, which in turn destroys stored data. However, this process is not effective with optical or solid-state drives.
On the other hand, shredding involves pulverising electronics into tiny fragments. After sorting, metallic and plastic materials are later melted and prepped for other use.
Work With a Certified Data Destruction Firm
Finally, it's crucial to choose your data destruction company wisely. For instance, consider hiring companies with certifications from renowned organisations, such as the e-Stewards Initiative.
Such a certification is the highest a firm can hold when it comes to recycling e-waste. It also means that the company has met all local, international and other data privacy requirements. There are other vital qualifications you can research and learn before hiring a data destruction company.