Computers crimes are everywhere these days, there are
entire divisions of law enforcement teams devoted to working on crimes
that, in one way or another are linked to the use of a computer.
The
root of many of the crimes perpetrated through the use of a computer
stem from the fact that the highly sensitive information present on
many personal and business computers isn't disposed of properly. You
may not realize it, because it may not really seem like a big deal at
the time, but you have tons of highly sensitive information stored on
your personal hard drive - and if you operate a business you may have
many other people's (your customers) highly sensitive information on
there as well.
You could have: full names, social security
numbers, complete addresses, accounts numbers (including bank and
credit card). If you are getting rid of an old hard drive, even though
you think you may have gone through every step to properly ensure that
this sensitive information has been erased, it could still be present
for anyone with even basic knowledge of computers to bring back and
have full view of. Even if you have a good deal of computer knowledge
and you make every effort to wipe a hard drive clean, there is no
guarantee that an experienced computer programmer or hacker couldn't
easily resurrect the sensitive information and do whatever they wanted
with it.
Whether it's a business or personal computer, if the
sensitive information that is present on the hard drive gets into the
wrong hands it could be incredibly damaging to the computer owner. PC's
that are "breached" once disposed of can very easily lead to a nasty
case of identity theft that is very hard to track - the offender may
literally have access to every single bit of personal identity they
need to effectively steal the former PC owners identity. For those of
you who've never been a victim of identity theft, rest assured it's not
a very pleasant experience and can affect your credit for a very long
time as the investigation is held and the details sorted out.
For
business computers the scenario can be equally as bad, a business
customer's private information can be made public. This can be damaging
to the business' customers by having their sensitive information go out
to the public and it can cause a wide rift created by distrust towards
the company who let the information get out. One situation like this
that isn't swiftly and efficiently handled can spell almost instant
doom for a business.
It you don't want the potential disaster of
highly sensitive information getting into the wrong hands, then it's
imperative that the information be completely wiped away from the hard
drive. The only one way to one guarantee that the information is
completely destroyed is to use a hard disk crusher.
For a home
PC, there are services available that you can enlist that will use the
hard disk crusher on your system to remove all of the sensitive data
before you dispose of the hard drive, or you can rent one from a
service and perform the job yourself. For businesses who will be
getting entirely new office equipment and have a multitude of machines
that need to be "crushed", there are companies that lease or sell hard
drive crushers that you will then have access to forever, or as long as
you may need it.
If things continue to go the way they are going,
it may not be long before crimes stemming from information found on
computer hard drives comprise the bulk of the crimes committed in the
US. Don't let yourself fall prey to this type of situation, before you
dispose of any hard drive - use a hard disk crusher to clean all of the
sensitive information off of it.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt
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