A sampling survey by some of the top performing Data Recovery and Data Erasure companies has reported that almost 50% of the second-hand hard drives contained crucial data, as a leftover by the previous user. Of this 75 % of the hard drives have undergone data deletion procedure before changing hands. What’s worse than this situation is that this deleted data can be recovered and reaccessed? The user is under the impression that the file is completely safe and shareable though the case portrays the opposite entirely. Read on to know the difference between Deletion and Erasure and how to ensure complete data inaccessibility.
The inference is that majority of users do not realize that after deleting the files from the system and recycle bin or even reformatting the drive does not necessarily eliminate the data. The information still resides in the drive, and only the pointers to the data are removed.
Once the business try to dispose of surplus IT assets, and the drives change hands, the information gets automatically shared with the new user. In this case, the original user is left with a false sense of security that the data is deleted from the storage asset. However, there is more significant threat looming for the user – that the critical confidential information is exposed to an unknown user who might use it for vested interests.
According to Report submitted by Identity Theft Resource Center, in the year 2015, approximately 160 million data records were exposed due to cyber-attacks. Now with stringent Data Protection rules as introduced by GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), businesses have to comply with stricter data protection and cannot lax as far as information management is concerned.
Have you ever assessed the number of deleted files on your system? You will be indeed shocked to witness the results if you happen to run a data recovery program on your deleted data.
Having analyzed the deleted files, it is evident that data deletion from the data is not the last solution. The only solution to delete files is software-based secure data erasure. The certified data erasure process is highly secure and ensures that data cannot be retrieved in any circumstances.