Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Protect Customer Information With A Hard Drive Shredding Austin Company

By Marci Glover


Often, companies only delete information from disks and other storage media. However, this is not safe because, deleting does not do away with the documents. The files are still accessible through use of special tools that retrieve information from storage devices. When a business does not require information anymore, it might consider contacting a hard drive shredding Austin company to help in destroying and discarding the documents in a safe and secure manner.

Destroying documents does not mean just physically mangling hard drives or cutting the papers in small bits. Even mangled hard drives, in the hands of criminals, could be reassembled and information accessed. Criminals use sophisticated methods to try and retrieve information from mangled disks and hard drives. If they get a chance to assemble the mangled disks, they could still access some of the information.

Businesses may suffer from problems such as copying of product formulas exposed to their competitors. Besides, companies may lose money contained in their business accounts. For clients, the information may be used to swindle money from their accounts. There is also risk of safety of clients if their contacts like names and contacts are accessed by criminals.

Companies may want to upgrade their storage media and computer devices and stop using the old-fashioned ones. While they may store the devices in their stores, that might not be safe. Destroying that information is considered safe way to protect the businesses from any eventualities that might arise leading to exposure of confidential details to other people not intended to access the documents.

At times, businesses want to resell their devices if they are not useful to them. The sale might happen so fast that it fails to destroy all the documents contained in hard drives and other storage media. This means that the information may end up in hands of other people. In addition, recycling companies may be contacted to take the computing devices, and if information contained in those computers is not destroyed, you may not know what could happen there after.

If a company decides to store information, it should make sure that the documents are secure and only accessible by trusted people. When the time to discard those documents comes, then the process should be conducted with due diligence. There are different methods used to discard documents. The technique chosen by a company will depend on the need for discarding information and the kinds of storage media where the documents are stored.

With degaussing, documents are destroyed by use of magnetic fields that alter the contents making them inaccessible. Other methods such as hard drive shredding may prove effective when done properly. One thing companies should realize is that even mangled disks and drives could still be reassembled and bits of information collected. If criminals have access to that information, it could be devastating for customers and businesses alike.

Paper documents should be discarded and shredded. Companies at times do not want to destroy the information they are not using. They might want to store it in the premises locked in safe rooms. However, mistakes can occur where people not authorized to enter the storage rooms might have access to the areas. The information might be leaked and find its way to the hands of ill-intended persons, something that could lead to lawsuits and other liabilities launched against the company.




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