[muglo] Re: scrubbing a hard drive
- From: Eric Dunbar <eric.dunbar@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 02:10:41 -0500
Clean sweep: How data 'wiping' can ensure privacy
Personal information remains on hard drive long after deletion
11:20 PM CST on Friday, February 25, 2005
By JEFF BRADY/ WFAA-TV
Chips and bits of hardware and hard drives get ground up for recycling.
Computer shredding is the last and most dramatic solution to protect
data in a era of identity theft and cyberpiracy.
"I think the biggest misconception is people think they can erase
their hard drive," says Intechra CEO Cindy Brannon. "Just say 'erase'
and put it into the trash bin, and the problem is, it's still there."
To test the concept, News 8 bought ten used computers. Different
makes, models and owners, and then took them to Intechra, a local
computer refurbishing company.
Within minutes, using $30 software, technicians found the Web sites of
nearly a dozen casinos.
"Here we could actually see Web sites that he'd been to," says
Intechra employee Ernie Moreno.
But online gambling's only the tip of the iceberg.
In the past, these analysts have found credit card numbers, child
pornography and more.
"We actually fired up one of the returns and there was some Al-Qaeda
information on that drive," says Grover Edmiston. "So we actually
turned the system over to the FBI."
Criminal data is rare, but every computer owner has privacy issues.
Web sites, bank accounts, wills and everything else typed into a
computer may be stored and salvaged later.
Forensic data recovery expert Brian Ingram compares deleting a file to
destroying a card in a library's card catalogue.
"The book's still there," Ingram says. "The forensic data software
that we use simply goes and re-indexes the entire drive. And finds
exactly what you're looking for."
Landfills aren't the answer, either. Lead, mercury and other
components inside computers make them toxic.
Data experts say the best option to protect private data is having a
hard drive scrubbed clean.
Intechra does it on a massive scale.
"It meets the Department of Defense standard for ensuring that the
data is destroyed," Brannon says. "It's what we call a triple wipe."
But simpler 'data-wipe' software programs are available to the public
for less than $50.
Intechra wipes hard drives of corporate customers and indiviudals. For
a small fee, usually about $10 per hard drive, with a data destruction
guarantee.
"If we can't destroy the data via software, then we destroy the data
physically," technician Tom Maxhim says.
_________________________________________________
For information concerning the MUGLO List just click on
http://muglo.on.ca/Pages/joinus.html
Our Archives can be viewed at
//www.freelists.org/archives/muglo
Don't forget to periodically check our web site at:
http://muglo.on.ca/
Other related posts:
