Get Rid of Your Data Before You Get Rid of Your Storage Media

The advent of digital technology forever changed the landscape of information preservation– digital media storage has made it possible to store large amounts of information in a very small space compared to traditional paper storage. The biggest downside to digital data storage used to be the danger of losing your information, but advances in the ability to recover information from digital media have saved many a business from accidental catastrophic data loss.

Fortunately (and Unfortunately), Deleted Doesn’t Mean Destroyed

Unfortunately, those same advances also opened up another area of vulnerability: discarded storage media. Many companies are unaware that simply deleting the files does not remove the data from digital media—it just removes it from the media’s registry and leaves that space open to be rewritten over (if the media is rewritable).
The information is still there, and can be easily recovered by someone who knows how to look for it. That’s why discarding storage media loaded with confidential information without proper precautions leaves your firm and your customers open to attack.

Digital Times Call for Extra (Destructive) Measures

Total data destruction is the only way to protect yourself and your customers from the damage of a data breach. That means that before you discard your storage media, you need to take extra steps to ensure your data is not just deleted, but unreadable and unrecoverable.

If possible, the storage media needs to be completely destroyed by shredding or another secure method that renders it unreadable and the information it contained completely unrecoverable. If the media cannot be completely destroyed, then not only do sensitive files need to be deleted, but the media needs to be overwritten so the information it once contained no longer exists.

Total Destruction is the Only Path to Total Protection

Whether you store your critical business information on paper, microfilm or on digital storage media like hard drives or CDs, you need to make sure your information is totally destroyed before you discard the media it’s contained on. Your best resource for more information on what you need to do to protect yourself and your customers is a shredding and destruction specialist like DeVries Business Services.

A digital media destruction specialist will advise you on what additional precautions you should take and what the best ways are to prepare your digital storage media for destruction, and can also assist with the actual destruction of your media.

Whatever you do, THINK before you toss your digital storage media. Your business’ survival depends on it.