Why Is the Secure Disposal of Media Components Vital? by Jennifer Burl

Recently, I purchased a new computer. Excited to open up the box and see a bright, uncluttered desktop, I almost forgot to ask myself what I would be doing with my old machine. If I sold my laptop on eBay or Craigslist, or gave it to a recycler, how would I know that none of my personal information would be available to the new owner? In my industry, I've read about many unfortunate incidents of companies that didn't protect their end-of-life computers appropriately, and as a result they were subject to a data breach.

Hard drive data breaches are nothing new. About 10 years ago, two MIT students found that only 9 percent of hard drives on the secondary market had been wiped clean and that almost half contained identifiable information, including credit card files and Social Security numbers. However, in the past decade, new penalties and lawsuits have significantly raised the cost of failing to manage discarded media and hard drives with secure disposal processes.

According to a recent study from the Ponemon Institute, data breaches account for an average cost per capita of $188 for companies in the United States. Such breaches translate to an average organizational cost of $5.4 million per incident, and the number of breached records per incident ranges from 5,000 to 99,000 records. That's a large amount of information to be gathered by the wrong hands.

The statistics above focus primarily on computer hard drives, but these days, data is everywhere. Confidential information is found not only on hard drives, but also on all kinds of media, including LTO tapes, CDs/DVDs, plus badges, X-rays, bank cards and even film and photos. A proper, secure disposition program should begin with a realistic assessment of all possible sources of vulnerability.

Iron Mountain's Secure Media Destruction program enables an organization to take advantage of Iron Mountain's proven skills in security, logistics, chain-of-custody management and broad geographic reach to secure data. We offer both offsite and onsite destruction services, giving our customers piece of mind, no matter the location. You'll also gain efficiency and the assurance that you're meeting all industry compliance standards.

Furthermore, while companies certainly want a secure disposition program for their media assets for compliance and risk management reasons, there are green benefits as well. Electronic devices make up an increasing portion of non-biodegradable content in waste dumps. As a member of the nonprofit e-Stewards Enterprise program, Iron Mountain will ensure the secure disposal of these electronic devices in an ecologically-friendly way.

I decided my personal data was too important to accidently end up in the hands of someone else. I kept my old laptop, and I have plans to have it thoroughly wiped by professionals. For me, information is too priceless to take chances.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/data-backup-and-recov...
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