For organizations with aging or redundant IT equipment - like governments -- the risk of a security breach is never higher than during disposal. One 60-gigabyte hard drive is equivalent to approximately 17 million pages of written information, easily searchable for a criminal mining for specific data.
With significant amounts of that data containing privacy-related information, the risks are extremely real.
Data storage devices such as computer hard drives, memory sticks, PDAs and BlackBerrys at their end-of-life-cycle should be handled very differently from CPUs, monitors, keyboards and desks - their security requirements are far greater. This may appear self-evident, but in practice it is difficult to find a government request-for-tender that segregates the special handling requirements of such devices.
The RCMP warned all federal departments in October 2007 that standard disk-erasing software (DSX) previously sanctioned by the Force was no longer reliable and should be used "at your own risk" as it could eventually fail to properly function on newer, larger drives. The RCMP's technical security branch found that DSX left traces of sensitive data, a sticky problem known as "data reminisce."
If you consider the risks incurred by a data breach and the relatively low replacement cost of these devices, it is hard not to conclude that their segregation and total destruction by shredding or other means is the only viable option.
As managers contemplate the selection of commercial data destruction services, they would be wise to consider the following minimum criteria:
- the security level certification of the facility and its personnel;
- certification in the National Association for Information Destruction;
- controlled goods certification for the handling of controlled items (if applicable);
- environmental protection procedures in the disposal of e-waste;
- company adherence to the Security Evaluation Guidelines in their destruction process;
- security during transport to the destruction facility;
- chain of custody documentation;
- insurance coverage (if the unthinkable happens); and
- certificate of destruction issued complete with serial numbers of the units destroyed.
Absolute Data Destruction corrects this breach of security by using
these rejected or unneeded items and recycling them to confirm the
complete destruction of all information. Data erasure and shredding
provides companies and businesses with the peace of mind to know that
the information stored on these items is carefully destroyed.
Absolute Data Destruction provides advanced data destruction
services for secure destruction of data contained on storage media. Our
data destruction services result in a thorough and systematic
elimination of all data on magnetic storage media including:
Hard Drives | 
IT managers should confirm in writing that the hard drives are
mechanically and physically destroyed by the provider, and not simply
“wiped” and resold back into the market. It is hard to believe that
managers of large corporate entities would intentionally choose to forgo
security and choose a less secure means of destruction with the endless
headlines, enormous lawsuits, and huge government fines as of
lately.The laws clearly define that the liability must stay with the
“data owner” regardless of whether or not a service provider is hired to
destroy their most confidential data. Ensuring that the hired
contractor has certifications and the most secure service possible is
paramount when selecting a partner to manage what C-level executives
argue to be “the single most vulnerable responsibility”: that is, hard
drive destruction. It is the least expensive component of the lifecycle
for a digital media device; however, it is by far the process that
exposes corporations to the largest liability.