WITH the amount of personal data stored on hard drives, one would expect companies to wipe these crucial devices clean before donating or selling them.
Xperien CEO Wale Arewa urges organisations to fully erase all personal data from all hard drives.
“We live in a world where personal and company information is a highly valuable commodity. It is important that people do everything they can to stop their details from falling into the wrong hands,” said Arewa.
Xperien has developed processes for eliminating data from hard drives, to meet the strict security standards for monitoring, control and alignment with any organisation’s policy. It issues certificates that provide management with documentary proof of due diligence in the execution of their responsibility.
Data must be erased using one of three methods, in order to be compliant with the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (PoPI) and also to ensure that a company’s intellectual property does not fall into the wrong hands.
Arewa says failure to carry out one of the following data destruction methods may lead to serious penalties.
“More importantly, the loss of data could lead to your company’s reputational damage,” he warns.
Advance digital data elimination allows the hard disk drive to be reused, making this method the most environmentally compliant. Xperien’s software solutions offer the best audit trails on the market.
Alternatively, physical shredding of the hard disk drive crushes and mangles it into tiny 25mm pieces, eliminating the data and rendering the hard disk drive unusable.
Finally, one could consider degaussing. This process uses a magnetic charge to eliminate data and it also destroys other components of the hard disk drive – ensuring double protection.
For more information contact Xperien on (011) 462-8806, email to itad@xperien.co.za or visit www.destroydata.co.za.
Xperien (Pty) Limited is the African leader in Secure IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) services, with clients mainly from the financial services sector.
It is the only company in Africa employing more than 10 staff members that has ITAD as a core business. ITAD service is the ”last mile” of the life cycle for corporate IT hardware.
The company manages millions of devices annually, disposing of them in a sustainable manner and in compliance with the laws of South Africa, and aims to protect clients’ personal information and intellectual property that resides on their computers at ”end-of-service” and during technology changes.
Courtesy: IT Public Relations
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