Orange County
Flash-based memory has been an industry standard for years, but solid state drives (SSDs) are just now becoming affordable enough to be included in original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices. Solid state hard drives replace the traditional hard disk drive for storing system data as well as user documents, settings, records and credentials. SSDs are particularly favored in mobile computing, due to their resilience, portability and low voltage. The Macbook Air, the Acer Chromebook and the Samsung Chromebook all rely on flash storage, for example.
But in spite of the benefits for the end user, solid state drives pose new challenges for data security. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego concluded that securely erasing data on SSDs is more difficult than on HDDs for a number of reasons. Important takeaways from the study include:
Solid State Drives Cannot Be Degaussed
For years, degaussing was an important and highly effective step in decommissioning hard disk drives and other digital media. Data on tapes, hard disk drives and floppy disks is stored magnetically. By exposing these types of media to high powered magnets, the data was erased or rendered completely irrecoverable. Because of the way solid state drives store data, degaussing has little to no effect on them. This includes mass solid state drives as well as USB thumbdrives, SD cards and USB pendrives.
Secure Deletion Methods on SSDs Don’t Always Work
Software-driven secure file deletion methods usually involve formatting a drive and then overwriting the sectors where the data was stored. This process is sometimes called sanitization. You can buy commercial software that automates this process for you. The problem is, however, that the majority of such software is designed for hard disk drive interfaces. Because the method by which solid state drives physically write data to sectors is fundamentally different than the read/write process for hard disk drives, the secure deletion commands often do not get carried out properly for SSDs. To remedy this sisue, some SSD manufacturers have implemented built-in secure erasure mechanisms for SSDs, but even these features are less than 100% reliable.
Physical Destruction is Still the Most Secure Practice
As with hard disk drives, solid state drives that contain or formerly contained sensitive information should be shredded. The lesson that we’ve learned from other types of digital media is that no file can truly be eradicated electronically. With today’s technology, this is even more true for solid state drives.
Call Go Green Mobile Shredding and we’ll come to your office and shred your solid state drives on-site.
Today’s business managers and consumers are getting savvier about protecting their privacy and identity. But a heightened awareness of the importance of paper shredding has led to a few persistent misconceptions about data security.
1. Particle Size Matters Most
Well-intentioned office managers often presume that, when it comes to paper shredding or hard drive destruction, smaller particle size always equals greater security. While it is important for shredded material to be practically unreconstructable, there are other points of vulnerability to consider beyond the risk of someone piecing together shredded paper or electronics. This is why government agencies stress the process of data destruction, rather than the resulting particle size. Regulations focus on best practices for the collection, transport, processing and disposal of sensitive material.
Don’t be overly impressed by the size of the particles that any particular shredding company claimed to produce. Particles that are 1/26” aren’t inherently more secure than particles that are 1/32”. Instead, ask how secure their data destruction process is. A good way to measure that is to check for National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) certification. NAID verifies approximately 20 different aspects of a data destruction company’s process before awarding certification.
2. In-house Paper Shredding is Best
There’s a mentality that if you want something done right, do it yourself. But when it comes to data destruction, handling it in-house may actually leave you more liable. Shredded confidential documents in the dumpster behind your office building are easy targets for two reasons:
1. Dumpsters on public roads or even private alleys are easily, and in some cases, legally accessible.
2. Experienced dumpster divers know that shredded documents contain the most valuable information; that’s what they’ll grab first.
Outsourcing your paper shredding solves these issues by disposing your processed documents in a receptacle or facility that is not open to the public and by comingling your shredded documents with material from other clients.
3. All Paper Recycling is Secure
Many businesses have arrangements with recycling companies who buy their office paper, pick it up and take it to their facility for processing and baling. While these companies serve an important role for the environment, the purpose of this service is completely different from secure data destruction. This arrangement is purely for the sale of recyclables, and doesn’t account for the security of your company’s information. Sensitive documents could be compromised in transit to the facility or even at the facility by an employee. A more secure way to dispose of your recyclable material is to shred them on-site, right before your eyes.
Go Green Mobile Shredding is a NAID Member data destruction company that can shred your hard drives, digital media and paper on site, right in your parking lot. We issue a certificate of destruction documenting the secure processing of your materials and then bring them to a certified recycling facility.
Call Go Green Mobile Shredding today to learn how your office can protect its data and save the environment.
It feels good to see less paper in the trash can. And one of the ways that many offices and households are cutting back on paper is by going digital with their records, shopping lists and, of course, their correspondences. But is going paperless actually good for the environment?
The short answer to that question is: Yes. Of the three R’s of waste hierarchy, reduce is number one, followed by reuse and recycle. Using less paper means fewer trees are harvested, less energy is consumed and less landfill space is used for the production and disposal of paper products. But that’s not the whole story.
Implicit in the noble cause to use less paper is the assumption that digital media is more sustainable than paper. That is only partially true. While each email you read on your computer or smartphone doesn’t amount to a sheet of paper in the recycling bin, the impact on the environment is far from zero. Think of your digital media—including hard drives, floppy disks, CDs and DVDs, tape drives, CompactFlash cards, SD cards, thumbdrives, etc.—as pieces of paper that you can use and reuse thousands upon thousands of times before it wears out. But what happens when it does?
If you end up tossing your laptops, cell phones, computer monitors, old projectors and other electronic equipment into the dumpster, you may be undoing most or all of the environmental benefits you’ve realized by saving paper. Not to mention that in California, you’d be breaking the law. That’s because electronic waste—more commonly referred to as e-waste—is even more dangerous and harmful to the environment than paper. E-waste contains heavy metals and other toxic components that leech into the ground and contaminate ecological habitats and water sources. In the U.S., an estimated 30 million computers are discarded each year, with only 15 to 20 percent of the nation’s e-waste being recycled, according to the EPA. Californians Against Waste estimates that about 70 percent of all heavy metals found in landfills comes from e-waste.
The moral of the story: Yes, go paperless. Reuse scrap paper from the copier and of, course shred and recycle your office paper. But don’t forget to recycle your e-waste, too.
At Go Green Mobile Shredding, we can help you securely and sustainably dispose of all of your electronic waste. We can shred your hard drives right in your parking lot and issue a Certificate of Destruction for your peace mind. We can also take computer towers, monitors, laptops, cell phones and other e-waste off your hands and make sure that it’s recycled in an environmentally-friendly fashion.
Thanks for doing your part for the planet!
P.S. Also, remember that electronics use electricity—much of which is sourced from unsustainably mined coal. Cutting back on electricity usage and supporting clean energy are key components of making digital media greener.
We’ve already discussed the dangers that improperly disposed eWaste and electronic media can pose in terms of identity theft, liability and compromised trade secrets. But preventing internal documents from reaching the public is also important to your business, especially if you have a reputation to protect. Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle and the Internet, even relatively innocuous internal memos and training videos can quickly be escalated into national scandal or ridicule. It’s impossible to predict what type of content will go viral—and what may seem uninteresting to you may be a meme by lunchtime if it falls into the wrong hands. Take a look at some of these leaks of corporate information that had embarrassing or damaging impacts and see for yourself.
Apple iPhone 4 Leaked Troubleshooting Procedures
When the new Apple iPhone 4 first hit the market, it had a problem: if you held it a certain way, you’d lose all signal. This flaw caused uproar among consumers and earned the smartphone a “can’t recommend” rating from Consumer Reports. Eventually, Apple admitted fault in its design and offered all iPhone 4 owners a free case to fix the problem. But in the meantime, the company conspicuously denied any shortcomings in the phone. In spite of this, Apple anticipated a flood of troubleshooting calls for the problem and prepped its customer support staff with a series of deflections and deferrals of blame. The memo was leaked by an Apple employee and posted on Boy Genius Report, with one of the most damning details being the explicit instruction to refuse warranty service.
While Apple has every right to attempt to control the message, this peek behind the curtain didn’t help the company’s image. The very existence of the guidelines implicitly confirmed that the company had acknowledged the problem and was willfully withholding solutions. And although most consumers are aware that customer support sessions are fairly scripted, seeing it out in the open makes it feel even more dehumanizing.
Wendy’s “Hot Drinks” Training Video an Embarrassing Reminder of the 90s
Training videos are, in some ways, a necessary evil. Getting new employees up to speed on procedures in a way that is consistent and memorable is a challenge that can only be met by a talented training force. To address the consistency issue, as well as to save HR staff from the tedium of repeating the same lessons over and over, videos can stand-in for a humdrum lecture or pamphlet. But occasionally, the producers take the illustrative and mnemonic elements of training videos a little too far. Case in point: this ultra-campy music video that teaches Wendy’s employees the proper procedure for serving hot drinks. This attempt to level with young employees was undoubtedly cheesy back in the 1990s—but it certainly hasn’t aged well, either. Granted, the tune is catchy enough and the premise is off the wall enough that employees likely did get the message. But looking back, it makes Wendy’s look tragically unhip and out of touch.
The only thing more cringeworthy than this music video is the sequel: cold drinks.
Climate-Gate Sparks Global Controversy in Science Community
It’s wrong to assume that electronic data disappears from the face of the earth once it’s deleted. That point was proven a thousand times over when a hacker tapped into an archived email server at the University of Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit. The hacker illegally downloaded over 1,000 emails and 3,000 other documents, some of which dated as far back as 1996. Most fatefully was a discussion where a scientist shared a “trick” that would “hide the decline” in a graph showing temperatures over time. These four words were taken out of context and upheld as evidence that global warming studies were a conspiratorial hoax and that the researchers involved were hacks and frauds. The researchers were eventually exonerated, but the media frenzy and inquiries were undoubtedly disruptive to their work and damaging to their careers.
There are three lessons we can learn from all of this:
• What seems like SOP internally may be extremely controversial in the light of day.
• Digital media can preserve data for decades—it could just be a matter of time before it comes back to haunt you.
• Damage to your reputation can be just as bad for business as failed compliance in data disposal.
The solution? Keep close tabs on all of your documents, videos, emails, training materials, memos, business plans, surveillance videos, meetings minutes and other information that’s intended for internal use only. And once it’s outlived its usefulness, shred it. It takes just one careless of mischievous employee to turn a quirky or controversial piece of information into an Internet phenomenon, so don’t take your chances.
For more information on mobile hard drive destruction and digital media shredding, call Go Green Mobile Shredding at (877) 821-0218.
