The Aftermath of a Data Breach: Why Secure Hard Drive Disposal Matters
September 12, 2023
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Various drive data recovery and hard drive recovery methods can recover ‘lost’ data, accidentally deleted or from failed/failing hard drives. Data recovery companies also provide emergency services specialising in this skill. But, if the wrong person gets ahold of sensitive data or protected personal information, data leaks or extortion scams are likely and fairly common.
Data leaks are dangerous for any company’s security and can easily compromise any company’s integrity. Personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account details, social security numbers, biassed media and other sensitive information is always at risk if data gets into the wrong hands.
Organisations must follow strict e-waste disposal methods to destroy hard drives and storage devices. To comply, they will need a certified hard drive destruction service provider. Thus, they should hire professional hard drive disposal services that carry out such tasks safely and securely to adhere to the law they are governed.
There are several effective ways to destroy a hard drive with the right tools.
To keep sensitive or security-protected attractive assets and information safe, various methods can safely destroy the data on your hard drive/s. The basic hard drive destruction tools are as follows:
A shredder is a mechanical device that completely shreds the hard disc’s casing and severs the data storage media that holds the information/data. Hard drives are made of metals and plastics, which, when put in a shredder, are torn into small pieces (down to 2-3mm) when they are drawn into the multiple industrial cutting shafts with integral blades.
Some shredders also bundle and compress the shredded material into more compact forms for easier disposal, making them very effective for packaging the waste. Depending on the size of the shredder, they can even completely destroy larger devices like server racks and industrial PCBs, which are much larger in size than a traditional SSD from a PC.
Shredding is a convenient, effective and reliable method for disposing of hard drives that need to be destroyed.
Hard drive shredders are on the more costly side and can also cause harm to the environment as the shredding process releases contaminants; hence, employing a professional disposal company is recommended for safety, compliance and cost savings.
A degausser is a powerful device which uses a strong magnetic force to wipe data storage devices, including hard drives. Degaussing prevents your hard drive from being read by anyone as it completely erases its data and compromises its disk utility, rendering it unreadable and securing your data.
Degaussing prevents sensitive information on hard drives from being leaked or stolen. The degaussing process is quick and quiet and produces no dust or debris. Degaussing is also a skill which requires expertise and supervision.
You should also know that a degausser can be expensive, so only consider buying it if you plan to destroy hard drives on a larger or more frequent scale.
A disintegrator is a machine with a conveyor operating system and rotary knife mill technology that can slice a hard drive into smaller particles, used in conjunction with a shredder for maximum destruction (for compliance with certain government requirements).
Usually, organisations that need to destroy highly classified information choose the disintegration method to destroy their hard drives and other information-storing devices.
Disintegrators require a specific setup and environment and are unsuitable for office environments as these machines are very large and heavy, requiring an appropriate amount of ventilation.
The other methods used for hard drive destruction don’t require any specific equipment and mainly include physical damage or chemical destruction of the data storing device.
Physically destroying a hard drive is a complex process; specialised data destruction equipment takes care of this problem.
Some hard drive destruction methods include drilling, crushing, piercing and bending hard drives. These methods are helpful if you want to protect your hard drive from basic digital theft and prevent recovering files.
To destroy the hard drive case and disc, it is dipped into acid to be melted. Melting is a dangerous but effective method of hard drive destruction.
The chemicals used in the melting process are hydrochloric and nitric acids which are dangerous. These harmful chemicals should be kept from humans and animals and should not come into contact with or be handled by anyone without appropriate skills and protective equipment.
Hard drive destruction is a complicated process because, if not done correctly, it could lead to critical information being leaked or misused.
Secure Hard Drive Destruction is a specialist company that is highly skilled in hard drive disposal services and complies with the strictest requirements of Government and Defence disposal needs. Our rigorous data destruction process ensures that your information is safely disposed of and recycled.
We also offer on-site and off-site disposal services, depending on the requirements. If you need a reliable and trustworthy data destruction service, feel free to connect with us via phone, email or on our website.
