Identity theft is a common issue these days and as people might think that they know all about how identities are stolen and they know how to avoid these methods – well, they know nothing, because identity thieves have moved on to a much more simple method of stealing your personal and financial information. It will not be wrong to say that, in a way, you are handing over your personal and financial information without even noticing it.
It is a common misunderstanding that formatting a hard drive will wipe all data clean and you can easily donate or sell your hard drive. However, that is not the case because even by formatting your hard drive, there is still plenty of recoverable and useable data left on it. In order to make sure that the data on your hard drive is made inaccessible or unusable, you should use data destruction methods.
What is Data Destruction?
In simple words, data destruction is a process in which the remnant data on a hard drive is accessed by executing different methods and made unrecoverable.
Data destruction is a not a new concept because the US Department of Defense have been using this method to secure the process of getting rid of old hard drives for a long time now. However, only a few people know about this method, which is why people are still falling victims to identity thefts.
Identity theft is not the only scenario that can be avoided with the help of data destruction because companies can also use this method to ensure their data is not breached and the confidentiality of their work remains confidential.
Selling formatted hard drives is the best way to hand over your data to people who can misuse it. According to MIT, in the 90% of formatted hard drives they purchased online, had recoverable data that included personal and financial information as well, and some of these drives came from financial institutions.
Secure Data Privacy
Securing data privacy is a cheap and easy way to ensure data breach does not happens. However, the sooner you start with this method, the cheaper data destruction will be.
Data Encryption
Data encryption is a method most people might have heard of. With the help of this method, a simple file is encrypted using mathematical calculations and algorithmic schemes. With the help of this method, a file can only be opened by a person who knows the key code or password of the file.
The main advantage of this method is that, it is quick and reliable. Moreover, even if the file is deleted from the computer, it will still remain encrypted, which means, it cannot be accessed anymore without the right key or password. The disadvantage of this method is that, if the key or password is forgotten or lost, then the file should be considered as lost as well because there is no other way to open it without the key or password. Moreover, this method is not recommended for files that are often accessed by the user as it consumes a lot of CPU power.
Author Bio:
This guest post is written by Shaun Willsher who is a professional having experience in technology and IT support and solution services.