Selling that Computer? Erase Your Hard Drive!

[3113]

And now, for your daily paranoia quotient....

Sensitive information for shooting down intercontinental missiles as well as bank details and NHS records was found on old computers, researchers say. Of 300 hard disks bought randomly at computer fairs and an online auction site, 34% still held personal data.

Researchers from BT and the University of Glamorgan bought disks from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia. The information was enough to expose individuals and firms to fraud and identity theft, said the researchers. Professor Andrew Blyth said: "It's not rocket science - we used standard tools to analyse the data". ...In addition to finding bank account details and medical records, the work unearthed job descriptions and personal identity numbers as well as data about a proposed $50bn currency exchange through Spain....Details of test launch procedures for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground-to-air missile defence system was found on a disk bought on eBay.

The missile system, tested as recently as March 2009 following a controversial missile test by North Korea, is designed to destroy long-range intercontinental missiles launched by terrorists or countries the US considers to be "rogue states". The missile system was designed and built by US defence group Lockheed Martin and the same computer hard disk also revealed security policies and blueprints of facilities at the group, and personal information on employees....Another disk, from a US-based consultant, formerly with a US-based weapons manufacturer, revealed account numbers and details of proposals for the $50bn currency exchange as well as details of business dealings between organisations in the US, Venezuela, Tunisia and Nigeria.

...Dr Andy Jones, head of information security research at BT, said: "It is clear that a majority of organisations and private individuals still have no idea about the potential volume and type of information that is stored on computer hard disks. Businesses also need to be aware that they could also be acting illegally by not disposing of this kind of data properly."

Complete article here.

 

[TxRad]

Just formating a hard drive is not enough. The data is still there, just the location tags are removed. The hard drive should have a wipe program ran on it, which overwrites every bit of data with zeros.

I rebuild older systems and give them away to people whop don't have a computer. It's fun to see what you can pull up off those old hard drives that people give me. Some interesting stuff and in some cases good blackmail material.

 

[R. Richard]

Writing over the exisiting data is good. Writing over the existing data three times is even better. There are techniques that allow a skilled professional to retrieve data that has been overwritten. However, after three times, the old data is really gone.

 

[IsabellaKing]

Best tool to erase your hard drive...

A hammer.

 

[freshface]

Best tool to erase your hard drive...

A hammer.

I'm with Isabella. When it stops looking like a hard drive, the data is really gone. I still mix the pieces with sand and throw them away in geographically separated trash cans. Not that I'm paranoid or anything.

 

[R. Richard]

Yes, destruction does make sure that no one snoops the data. However, the remains are not worth any money. Something to think about.

 

[IsabellaKing]

I'm with Isabella. When it stops looking like a hard drive, the data is really gone. I still mix the pieces with sand and throw them away in geographically separated trash cans. Not that I'm paranoid or anything.

You must've had some seriously dodgy stuff on yours.

 

[relaxitsonlyme]

When I gave away my old PC I prepared it by using wipe start-up disks (one that I prepared in CCleaner the other in Window Washer. (Yes I used both) they each overwrite everything a number of times. Then I formatted then re-intalled the operating system.

A hammer would have been quicker, but then I couldn't have given it away!

 

[freshface]

You must've had some seriously dodgy stuff on yours.

No, just a paranoid mind. I also shred anything with my address on it in a cross cut shredder and dump the shredded paper loose into a very large recycle bin. I really want them to steal someone else's identity. Besides, I have four hard drives in my server computer for storage and another two that used to have the OS as external stash drives to move data around. My smallest one has my Linux installation and programs. By the time I'm done with a drive, it doesn't have a lot of value left anyway.

 

[Boota]

At my job we have computers donated all the time and 90% of the time they still have a lot of information on them that should have been removed. Like the local cop who donated his computer that still had nude pics of his wife on it. Being the nice guy that I am I don't let that stuff go out with things like that on it. And that's just the easy to find stuff. Who knows what goes out that I didn't look for.

 

[3113]

Like the local cop who donated his computer that still had nude pics of his wife on it. Being the nice guy that I am I don't let that stuff go out with things like that on it.

So you kept the pics for yourself

 

[john-the-author]

No, just a paranoid mind. I also shred anything with my address on it in a cross cut shredder and dump the shredded paper loose into a very large recycle bin. I really want them to steal someone else's identity. Besides, I have four hard drives in my server computer for storage and another two that used to have the OS as external stash drives to move data around. My smallest one has my Linux installation and programs. By the time I'm done with a drive, it doesn't have a lot of value left anyway.

I save everything that comes in the mail with anything even vaguely sensitive (frequently even the name/address block on bulk mailing) and throw it into a box for shredding. I save these up until the local shredding outlet has a "free shredding day," whereupon I load up the station wagon with half a dozen large boxes of shreddable stuff. The company brings a semi trailer that's a shredding unit. You pour everything from your boxes into these big garbage cans that are hoisted up to the top of the semi and poured into the shredder. You can see everything getting pulped through a window and then you drive home, happy that you've got a big stack of boxes gone and all the data's turned into fiber.