Security experts warned today that many companies fail to
dispose of old PCs securely, leaving potentially sensitive data
available to whoever buys the machines on the second hand
market.
A survey released by security firm Pointsec said that the problem is
exacerbated by the fact that many used corporate PCs are being
shipped to third world countries where the information on the
drives can be used in ID theft scams.
Numerous reports have surfaced of private and valuable information
being discovered on a hard drive or computer bought from eBay, the
study warned.
Pointsec said that fewer than half of major corporations use
professional disposal companies to destroy old computers.
Many sell them to second hand dealers or staff which often means
that the next recipient has access to all the old data.
Some 17 per cent destroy them in-house, which is arguably the
safest approach as companies can witness that the right procedure
has been followed to adequately destroy the data.
The survey was conducted among 329 companies, over half of which
employ more than 2,000 staff.
Martin Allen, managing director of Pointsec, said: "We have all
heard about PCs thrown away in council tips that have ended up in
West Africa with local extortionists and opportunists selling the
contents such as bank account details for less than £20.
"Many corporations also fall victim to this sort of scam by selling
their old PCs to second hand dealers who often do not have the
skills or resources to reformat and clean them adequately.
"We recommend thoroughly reformatting the hard drive or encrypting
the data on all mobile devices as this ensures that no-one can get
at the data unless they know the computer's password both during
the PC's lifetime and beyond."
Allen added that firms with really sensitive data on their devices
should burn or smash the hard drives.