Every so often, you need to refresh your hardware. What should you do with your old computer or your old printer? Some people throw it away in the bin, while others give it to their niece or nephew or something like that.
Make sure you do none of those!
Data Erasure Solution for Personal and Business Use
You want to make sure that you use something like Boot and Nuke, and have the data that’s on those computers completely wiped. If you don’t, you’re going to be in a position where someone can recover the data, and they might be able to use that against you.
Do you need help in deleting data on your company’s old computers?
Printers Store Information Too
You’ve got to be very careful with your data. Especially when you’re changing over systems. This isn’t limited to just computers and servers either. A lot of people don’t realize this, but most business-grade printers store everything that you printed in them.
If you’re someone whose job requires a high level of integrity, like an accountant or a solicitor, or if you deal with a lot of confidential data, you would be very irresponsible for throwing out a printer without pulling it apart and ripping out that hard drive. It’s imperative that you do that unless you don’t care about any of the stuff you printed getting in the wrong hands because it will.
Protect Your Paper Trail
There’s a lot of auction sites in Australia where you can jump on to buy a pallet of printers.
In fact, I bought a filing cabinet the other day, and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Inside the filing cabinet was a bunch of files that had fallen down behind the actual cabinet trays. I was able to pick them out and see exactly who owned the filing cabinet.
You got to be really careful about your paper trail.
Completely Remove Data From Old Computers and Other Hardware
There are many companies that can make sure that you are protected. Even if you just get a drill and you just drill a hole through the hard drive of the printer, work station, and servers, you’re sure that it’s going to be fine.
Unless you’re going through the Boot and Nuke process, which isn’t a hard process, but unless you’re doing that, you are leaving yourself wide open for people to get in, steal your identity, pretend to be you, and make havoc in your life.
Format everything, and stay good.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on 19th January 2019. It has been revamped and updated for accuracy and to reflect recent trends.
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