A CLEAN SLATE

DATA IS GROWING AT AN INCREDIBLE PACE AND IT WILL ONLY CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE COMING YEARS. RECENT INDUSTRY REPORTS HIGHLIGHTED THAT A FULL 90 PERCENT OF ALL THE DATA IN WORLD HAS ONLY BEEN GENERATED OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS. BUT WHAT DO YOU DO WITH DATA WHEN IT’S NO LONGER NECESSARY FOR THE COMPANY AND HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE THAT IT DOESN’T FALL INTO THE WRONG HANDS? SECURITY CORRESPONDENT DANIEL BARDSLEY INVESTIGATES.

- Daniel Bardsley

The Idaho Power Company hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2006 when it came to light that hard drives from the firm containing customer data were being sold on eBay.

It transpired that the company’s policy on wiping drives had not been followed before the devices had been put up for sale, leaving company officials scrambling to track down the items.

Although the firm was successful in recovering most of the more than 200 hard drives that it had sold on, the episode remains a cautionary tale as to what can happen when not enough care is taken with old hardware.

There was a time not that long ago when destroying sensitive data was a relatively straightforward affair, involving little more than tearing up letters and documents and dropping them in the waste bin.

Often the closest methods got to being high-tech was if a pair of stainless-steel shredding scissors boasting multiple blades or a mechanical shredder was used.

While these fairly simple devices were sufficient for a world in which documents were paper-only, destroying electronic data can be much more complex.

Indeed, it is so complex that multiple terms have been developed to cover the myriad ways in which devices might be made safe.