Degaussing your Hard Drive
Personal computers have been instrumental in helping users organize and consolidate information- both business and personal. In many homes, practically every piece of personal information is stored on the computer- credit card receipts, personal income tax returns, budgets and bank account statements. This has been helpful to co-ordinate all of one’s pertinent financial details all in one place. However, there is a downside to this convenience.
Data saved on a computer must be saved to somewhere. In most personal computers, this is the hard drive- the electronic filing cabinet. Data stored on the hard drive can be accessed at any time when needed. The problem occurs when that data is no longer needed. Most users believe that, by hitting the “delete” or “trash” button, their data is permanently deleted. But, even though they can no longer see it, anyone with some computer savvy can access that “deleted” data. That leaves many computer users vulnerable for identity theft.
There is only one way of permanently deleting information from a storage drive, such as a hard drive. The process is called degaussing and if it is done correctly, it will render the data permanently unreadable. Degaussing works by magnetically scrambling the data so that the pieces cannot reconnect.
One method of retaining more physical control over your financial data is to store all of your sensitive files on a flash drive or an external hard drive that you carry with you at all times. While this will protect your data from a theft of your computer, it still leaves the media vulnerable to theft if there is a break-in in your home or if your purse is stolen. And, when you are done with the data, you will still need to degauss the flash or hard drive.
With identity theft exponentially increasing year over year, it is estimated that there are over 10 million Americans who are the victims of identity theft every year. There are many ways to protect yourself against identity theft but the only way to reliably do it with computer data is to have a computer data specialist degauss your hard drive when you want to delete information. All personal information contained on paper should be shredded immediately to protect from identity thieves who go through your garbage.
Computer identity thieves, however, can get to your data several ways. They can set a computer virus to activate and can give them remote access to all of your data on your hard drive. Another danger is in donating or trashing your computer. Wiping the hard drive clean before donation doesn’t eradicate all of the personal data stored there. All hard drives that are donated or sent to the dump should be subjected to the degaussing process.
Being smart with your personal electronic information will keep you and your family safer from an identity theft.