Improper Computer Disposal Is All Wet

Friends of mine lost nearly half of everything they own when their home was inundated by flood waters in the widespread Midwest deluge this summer. As they struggled to rescue what they could in the fast-rising waters, they left their computer behind. They had a surprise when they tried to salvage the PC, which had been submerged for days. They were able to retrieve presumably lost data from the hard drive.

Recent news articles shared similar uplifting stories of flood victims striving to retrieve data from waterlogged computer equipment. The focus of this story was to assure flood victims that their precious files were not necessarily lost, but could be pulled from the murky depths of despair and surface anew. All it took was a little effort and expertise.

There are a lot of criminals out there who are willing to devote their efforts and expertise to retrieving data from computers that have been dumped without regard to security. In the flooded electronics news article, computer forensics experts said at least some data can be recovered from virtually any faulty or damaged storage device.

This goes double for computers sold or donated without regard for the data they contain.

Other news accounts regularly depict tales of innocent people buying used electronics and discovering personal and financial data belonging to previous owners. One recent incident that comes to mind involved a man who bought a computer online and discovered a gubernatorial candidate’s list of political contacts and donors on the hard drive. The hard drive was thought by its original owners to have been destroyed. But the top secret data survived and only the honesty of the man who bought the computer kept the information from being compromised.

Improper disposition of computer equipment can open the floodgates for security breaches. What’s good news for flood victims is bad news for those who dispose of computers and hard drives without ensuring that the data has been purposefully destroyed.