Whether you are relocating to a new premises or upgrading your computer equipment, you are likely to be left with many unwanted computer hardware. You may be tempted to store them or sell them; however, it is important to take care of and protect your hardware as they still contain private or sensitive business data. Simply deleting your hard drive for your PC is not sufficient to ensure that all data is demolished correctly. To protect your business from high damaging and costly data breaches, it is important to contact a third-party digital data destruction company to destroy your data the appropriate way and make sure your business is always protected and remains secure and safe.
What Is Data Destruction?
Data Destruction is also known as data disposal. It is the method for eradicating sensitive data, whether it is digital, physical, or electronic such as mobile devices, desktops, and hard drives. Once data is destroyed, it is completely inaccessible. The data can never be recovered or used for unauthorised purposes. Using the data destruction process, data bearing devices are destroyed physically using processes such as degaussing and data shredding.
Types Of Data Destruction
There are several different ways to destroy data. Some of these methods include:
- Degaussing
- Data shredding
- Erasure
- Wipe
Degaussing
Degaussing uses a high-powered magnet to destroy computer data. The magnet disrupts the magnetic field of an electronic medium. This disruption destroys the data in a device quickly and effectively.
Data Shredding
Shredding is another form of physical destruction; it can be the most cost-effective and secure way to destroy electronic data in any media that contains solid-state drives or hard drives that have reached their end of life. It is also effective for tablets, mobile phones, optical drives, motherboards, and much more. Shredding is a great type of destruction if you have large stockpiles of old hard drives and media from a large enterprise centre and you want the data destroyed. It is efficient, secure, and fast. Shredding should be your number one choice if you work in a high-security environment with high security data.
Erasure
Erasure is another name for overwriting. All hard drive data will be destroyed completely, and you will then receive a destruction certificate showing that all electronic device data has been erased successfully. This form of destruction is ideal if a business has bought the devices on a lease basis like laptops, desktops, and enterprise data centers, or if you wish to dispose of them for storage of different materials or reuse the hard drive.
Wipe
Wiping data means overwriting a device where data is stored to ensure this data can no longer be seen. Wiping data generally involves physically connecting any media to a bulk wiping device. Data wiping is much more convenient for a single person. It can be a time-consuming process as just 1 piece of equipment can take the entire day.
Benefits Of Digital Data Destruction
Gives You Peace of Mind
Having your data properly destroyed will give you and your business peace of mind that the data is safe. You are guaranteed that your data will never be recovered.
Your Data Is Unrecoverable
Criminals can retrieve data on damaged hard drives or hard drives that were thrown away. Make your data unrecoverable by hiring a company to physically destruct your equipment using high-security data destruction machines to destroy the information securely and safely. All data and documentation are destroyed confidentially and can never be recovered.
Prevents Liability
An electronic data destruction service will provide you with a certificate of destruction that can be used to prove you took the appropriate steps to ensure the complete destruction of data. If you attempt to destroy the equipment by yourself and aren’t successful, it could result in the theft of employee or customer data, and you may then be held accountable for not securing private data. If there is a security breach your business could face heavy fines if you do not dispose of the data and information correctly. This is easily avoidable by hiring a professional data destruction company to destroy all your equipment.
It Can Help The Environment
Digital data destruction in the correct way can help the environment. When e-waste is physically destroyed, it can keep old hard drives and other devices out of the landfills. Electronic waste can carry toxic chemicals in trace amounts that can get into the water and soil supplies when left in landfills. Your company is doing your part to help the environment and the earth by keeping the e-waste out of the landfills.
Ensures Your Company Is In Regulatory Compliance
A professional data destruction company will have the appropriate knowledge in relation to regulations for destroying data. It is their job to ensure your business remains compliant and follows the appropriate laws. This will eliminate the worry of a fine and ensure your hard drives and other devices are disposed of properly and in accordance with the laws that apply to electronic data storage media.
Free Up Some Office Storage Space
Storing old hard drives and devices in the office can take up valuable workspace. Destroying the data devices can be time-consuming, however, it is risky if you do not use a high-security data destruction machine. To save your business time and to free up space in the office, always hire help from a data destruction company. Larger businesses keeping old devices that have no use is an inefficient use of space.
Protect Your Reputation
According to estimations from a leading digital marketing agency, 72% of businesses who have suffered a major data breach have faced a business collapse. Committing to do everything possible to secure your client’s data will enhance efficiency, engender trust, and avoid fines is the best option for your business. Data protection will increase your brand credibility as it will prevent destruction caused by data leaks.
In any type of business, there is a lot of data and private information in relation to customers and employees. If there is a security breach, personal information on employees and clients can be used to compromise finances and steal their identity. Digital data destruction is the most effective way to ensure that all data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. A professional data destruction company have the experience and expertise for destroying your data. They have certain protocols to follow to ensure that all devices are secure and safe throughout the entire process.