All businesses reach a point where they are required to upgrade their IT and electronic equipment. When upgrading existing equipment, whether replacing end-of-life IT units or just switching them out for parts, a common question that arises is, “how do I destroy a hard drive?” The answer to this question is critical not only for the prevention of data breaches, but to also prevent your data from ending up in the wrong hands. Data exposures can damage your reputation, result in financial and legislative penalties, staff terminations, and has the potential to put executives and others at risk of civil or criminal prosecutions.
The first step in this process might involve you taking inventory of all hard drives and media storage devices and transporting this equipment to your IT asset disposition vendor. However, what if rather than shipping these items off-site, the vendor came to you? What if you could witness the data being removed and/or the physical destruction?
There are now a growing number of vendors who can validate that data residing in your end-of-life electronics has been erased and/or destroyed prior to leaving your facility. Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) in particular does not only destroy data on-site but also can execute value-added services including refurbishment, redeployment, resale and recycling. As an added measure of data security there are certifications and standards to watch for including ISO27001, and the AAA certification awarded through the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID).
On-site security services can include:
- Bulk hard drive shredding,
- Small volume hard drive crushing and degaussing,
- On-site data erasure (for maximum value return), and
- Bin rental and collection.
On-site security services are a great way to offer enterprises a robust and safe data destruction program. Most companies can offer one component of this data destruction service, but SRS is proud to offer an all-encompassing, desktop-to-disposition service offering.
Learn more about on-site hard drive shredding services available through SRS.