How to destroy your data in a safe and efficient manner

• June 28, 2022
• jennifer
• Data

Everything is temporary. In a world full of fleeting moments, data is not an exception. All data, once used in all industries, is disposed of. This data needs to be disposed of safely in all industries so that you can prevent any kind of data leak. There are various ways in which you can dispose of this data safely and efficiently. Secure data destruction is essential to the companies that dispose of such data.

This article highlights the importance and the ways to destroy your data efficiently. You can make sure that your data is safe after reading this article and implementing the necessary steps.

Destroying hard drives

Destruction of data is of utmost importance as it is necessary for the security of your data. Hard drives are equipment that help you store your data externally. These need to be destroyed efficiently to ensure data security.

The following points must be kept in mind while destroying the hard drives:

• Clearing: Clearing ensures that the data is removed in such a way that prevents any user from accessing it easily. This helps in data destruction for reusing a device in the same company. It does not ensure complete destruction, just removal of data.
• Digital Shredding: Digital shredding is a method that does not alter the physical assets of a company. Instead, it overwrites all the data of the company with random characters. This is a safe way for data destruction.
• Degaussing: Degaussing, as the name suggests, is a method to alter data via the use of a magnetic field. These magnetic forces rearrange the structure of the hard drive and make sure they cannot be used ever again.
• Physical Destruction: This method makes sure that the data is disposed of safely, and destruction of the hard drive takes place. This is done by hydraulically crushing or mechanically shredding the hard drive. As you can think, this renders the data absolutely irretrievable.

Destroying solid-state drives

Solid-state drives are another source of data. This data can be easily accessed if not destroyed properly. There are various ways in which SSDs can be disposed of safely. These methods are:

• Built-in sanitization commands: If the device is to be reused in the company itself, built-in sanitization commands can be used. They clear the SSDs and make them reusable. This is much better than buying new SSDs.
• Physical Destruction or Encryption: Using this method, you can ensure your data is completely safe. You cannot recover this data anymore, so be careful while you destroy your data this way.

Enforcing equipment and Data destruction policies

To ensure safe data destruction, you need to keep the right policies in place and ensure that they are being followed. Compliance is often an issue in various companies, but you need to make sure that data is destroyed properly. If your data gets leaked, there can be a lot of problems that can ensue. You will suffer huge losses in millions, and even a single questionable act can raise questions about your reputation. If such an incident occurs, it can cause your company to go bankrupt.

Here are a few policies you can keep to check the efficient destruction of data:

• You should keep personnel that will check efficient and complete destruction of data, whether it be by the methods mentioned above or any innovative way that can change that is unique to people. Either way, the data should have no scope to get leaked.
• You should specify the ways in which you can destroy this data in your company. This makes sure that efficiency can be increased in the company by defining the standard operating procedures.
• You should detail what should be done to media devices that don’t have a use. The company should set SOPs for all kinds of situations according to the needs of the company.
• You should include requirements for future assets in company lists. This list should be updated frequently and according to the needs of the company.
• Non-compliance should be dealt with with punishment. Appropriate data policies should be set for the same.

Conclusions

In conclusion, there should be efficient data destruction for any company. This ensures that you don’t suffer any grave losses due to data leakage.