Secure Data Destruction ‒ Keeping Your Data Safe

When it comes to recycling corporate IT assets, secure data destruction is a company’s most pressing concern, especially for those companies safeguarding classified, private or proprietary information. Hard drives are just like file cabinets and store your data in much the same way a file cabinet does, only electronically. You’d never put a file cabinet full of valuable data out on the street or in the dumpster. Likewise, you should never recycle hard drives with an IT remarketer that doesn’t have secure data destruction processes.

Some electronics recycling companies think secure data destruction means formatting your outdated hard drives. However, if someone really wanted to retrieve that data, they could. It’s an expensive proposition (upwards of $5,000), but that’s nothing compared to the value of some data ‒ information that could be used against your company or your customers.

So what does secure data destruction really involve?

Destroying data once and for all is especially important for hard drives that house sensitive information. For example, when a hospital or medical center transitions to a new system, they must securely destroy all of their old records to ensure their patients’ privacy. Otherwise, the medical institutions face exposing sensitive data simply because their electronics weren’t cleared properly. SMS Assembly follows Department of Defense secure data destruction policies, triple-wiping all drives to ensure that your data is completely destroyed, not just hidden. Most recycling companies scramble your data via the formatting process. However, a determined, computer-savvy person could access it. Since it’s expensive to do so, personal computers aren’t really in danger. However, for those companies who regularly handle sensitive data, secure data destruction is imperative considering the average cost of a security breach could run in the millions.

Many threats exist to your data. Corporate espionage. Dumpster diving. We’ve even been offered money to sell business information rather than destroy it. So if all of these threats exist, why should you trust SMS Assembly? With each and every drive we destroy, you receive a certificate of destruction. The software used to wipe your drive produces this certificate only when the drive is completely wiped, so you know that your data has been securely destroyed. We also have a full security facility, with cameras installed in each destruction room and padlocks to ensure that your drive is safe. Your data is protected on its way here, too – we use UPS and Fed Ex for secure transport. With all of the measures that we have in place to protect your information, you can be confident that we don’t take secure data destruction lightly.

SMS also makes the environment a priority. Most companies shred old drives, which releases a lot of potentially dangerous dust into the air. Instead, we crush each drive, after removing the green board. In addition, SMS separates all precious metals, ensuring that you get the most money back out of your old equipment.

If you have questions about our processes or what makes us your top choice for securely destroying your companies’ sensitive data, please contact us today for more information.