Proper Data Destruction for Media Other Than Hard Drives

The data destruction industry has done a great job at getting out an important message: Hard drives are treasure troves for data thieves, and donating or throwing away an obsolete computer could expose all sorts of sensitive information stored on its hard drive. You would probably never get rid of a hard drive that way because you know that anything short of permanent destruction could leave you vulnerable to a data breach. Shredding hard drives is an easy solution that irreversibly destroys any stored data, and (hopefully) most business owners and individuals know by now that it’s the most responsible choice for disposing of old drives.

Are you as diligent with data destruction around other types of physical storage media? In the course of a typical work day, you might interact with a dozen types of data-storing media, including thumb drives, flash drives, CDs, DVDs, X-ray films, audio tapes, floppy disks, cell phones and even printers and copiers. (You might not think of those last two as being data-storing devices, but newer models have drives that store images.) Just like computer hard drives, these kinds of media can all store sensitive personal and financial information about your business, employees and customers. When you’re done with old physical media, destroy these items with the same care you’d use for destroying hard drives.

Proper Data Destruction for Physical Media

There are a few ways you could theoretically dispose of different types of physical media, effectively destroying any stored data. Say your business has a bunch of old audio tapes, DVDs and flash drives to destroy. Maybe you could find a degaussing service to wipe the tapes using powerful magnets, or even have an employee spend all day cutting the tapes into tiny bits of confetti. Maybe you could destroy the DVDs by wrapping them in towels and stomping on them until they break into tiny pieces. The flash drives aren’t so easy to destroy, though; even submerging them in water won’t necessarily wipe the data they hold.

Shredding is the one-size-fits-all solution for disposing of physical media. Shredding is the one method that provides permanent destruction for a wide range of media types. And it’s substantially easier for business owners to have a shredding service come and take everything away than it is to spend all day sorting through your obsolete media and destroying each one in a different way.

The industrial shredders that data destruction services use can rip all kinds of physical media into tiny pieces in just seconds. Even metal objects like drives can be quickly reduced to small shreds. After shredding, any reusable components like metal may be recovered and recycled.

Data Destruction Best Practices for Media

Don’t take chances with DIY destruction methods for business data. It might seem easier to just drill holes through hard drives and other kinds of physical media, rather than arranging for a shredding service to permanently destroy them. And if you’re comfortable taking that risk with your personal data, that’s your choice—but with business data, you can’t afford to take any shortcuts that could expose a client or employee’s private or financial data to thieves. The repercussions of a data breach could be devastating for your business.
Check your backups. Shredding is truly permanent, so there’s no recovering any media that you dispose of this way. Before you pass off your old drives, tapes and other media to your shredding service, make sure you’ve backed up or otherwise saved any important data first.
Use a shredding service that’s certified by NAID, which verifies that data destruction service providers are in compliance with regulations and adhere to data security best practices. Certified providers are also subject to unannounced audits. Essentially, NAID certification means that the data destruction service and its employees have been thoroughly vetted.
Review your data destruction policy to make sure it includes language about disposal of physical media. Especially if your workforce includes any remote workers who might take media offsite, you need a standardized method for collecting and destroying all company-owned data.

Let Northeast Data Destruction help your business protect its private data. Clients use our shredding services to destroy all kinds of physical media in a permanent, hassle-free way. We’ll arrange pickup of your materials and transport them to our NAID “AAA” certified facility in locked and secure trucks. A representative from your business may even be able to witness the shredding process.

If you have questions about disposing of hard drives and other media, or have any questions about data destruction, contact me today!