Secure deletion, to protect your sensitive data

Whoever, during the course of his everyday job, must deal with sensitive or confidential information, such as for example credit card numbers, personal details, commercial or contractual information, knows very well that this data must be handles with the utmost care.
What often one may not know is that even though you delete this information, it is not completely erased from the memory of your computer, and might (inadvertently or not) be retrieved by third parties whose intentions may not always be honest.

Another potentially risky situation may originate from dismissed hard disk or magnetic storage supports, which are installed on a new computer or passed on to a colleague, and that may contain data, even if you think you have deleted it; this data may inadvertently circulate outside your office or organization, with unpleasant consequences.

To protect ourselves against these occurrences, we must use an appropriate secure deletion system. Before being able to reuse a magnetic storage means like a hard disk, it is advisable to perform some actions that can erase completely the stored data, making it impossible to be recovered or rebuilt at a later stage.

To do so, there is a device called HD Eraser, a machine which emits a strong local electromagnetic field. Just place the support you wish to erase (hard or floppy drive, audio or video cassette) on one side of the device, press the start button, and within a few seconds your hard drive will be completely demagnetized, and all data previously stored will be impossible to retrieve and use.

This kind of device is particularly recommended for public administration and for financial institutions. For more information on safe deletion and protection of your sensitive data, we recommend that you visit the Endoacustica website.