Data Destruction

What is data destruction?

Making data unreadable, either by eliminating customers’ records or deleting data that is no longer needed, is an important process when it comes to information security.

Whether the data is stored on a hard drive, an SSD or a server, there are three main ways to ensure that it is no longer accessible on the storage media:

Overwriting: old information is overwritten with new data, making it difficult to locate or recover.
Degaussing: the magnetic field is eliminated and the storage device destroyed at the same time, making it impossible to recover any information.
Physical destruction: disk shredding, disk crushing or disk melting.

If none of these methods of destruction is chosen, encryption is the way to go, as the data cannot be accessed without the correct encryption key.

These solutions all have their advantages and disadvantages. Choosing one over the other, or using more than one to destroy confidential data, depends on the level of destruction required and whether the data destruction has to be certified for compliance purposes.

There are a number of situations when data needs to be properly destroyed: when changing service providers, migrating from an on-premise infrastructure to the cloud, stopping a service or a product, and when upgrading, decommissioning or scrapping IT equipment. Simply pressing the delete key is not enough.

What are the risks of undestroyed data?

Cybercrime now costs $600 billion a year worldwide, a figure rising due, in part, to the growth of hacking skills. Criminal activities are more efficient, less risky, more profitable and easier than ever. A big part of information security is therefore being able to dispose of confidential or private information and intellectual property in the correct manner.

Businesses cannot afford to overlook how and why data is destroyed when it is no longer needed. Failure to do so can lead to the information falling into the wrong hands and being used for fraudulent or criminal purposes, and to the risk of hefty fines and lost customers. In addition, customers’ right to be forgotten has to be respected, and may mean deleting their information from your systems.

Better data management can give companies a competitive advantage. So when storing past financial statements, personal records of past employees, lease records, contract copies, client databases and much more, secure destruction is the key.

Why does your company need certified data destruction?

Data protection and robust privacy policies are key to organisations that need to be compliant with the latest data protection legislation.

Under data protection law, businesses are no longer allowed to store old data that is no longer needed, and are responsible for destroying sensitive data. Having a consistent data destruction policy, followed by everyone within your company at all times, is vital. Firms in the Square Mile, where regulators expect evidence, can read about our data destruction in the City of London.

The first important part of a data destruction policy is the classification of the information, whether it is confidential trade information, customers’ private information or other documents that have no value, and which type of data can be removed.

When implementing a data destruction policy, you can decide which level of destruction is appropriate for your company’s situation and whether it requires a certification in order to be compliant.

How to carry out data destruction to achieve 100% reliability

Creative IT, the experts in sensitive data destruction in London, lets businesses securely erase data across every IT asset, including USB drives, large data centres, virtual cloud environments and selected files and folders in live environments. The tools we use are certified worldwide and come with a 100% tamper-proof audit trail and erasure reports.

The benefits of coming to Creative IT for your data destruction needs include full compliance with data erasure requirements, as well as reduced risk and increased security for your organisation.

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Areas we cover

We work with businesses in every London borough, on-site or by collection.