When it comes
to Sanitizing and Destroying U.S. Government Sensitive or Classified
Data, Business Data or Personal Data from Computer Hard Drives,
TopSecretProtection.Com is your best choice. Why?, the owner of
TopSecretProtection.Com has been responsible for Protecting U.S.
Government Sensitive and Classified Information up to the Top Secret
SCI Level. See the About Us section of this website for
further details.
WHY DO HARD DRIVES NEED TO BE
DESTROYED OR SECURELY ERASED?
Most Government Organizations, Businesses and Home Computers User's
do not fully understand the risks of selling, giving away or simply
disposing of old or non-working computers. These computers are given
away or just taken to the local dump.
Today, just about every piece of information about your personal
life and your business passes through a network of computers. Your
computer is like a tape recorder, recording everything. What
information does / can your computer hard drive store?
-
Personal Information and Correspondence
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E-Mails
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Bank Account Numbers / Balances
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Tax Information
-
Credit Card Numbers
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Social Security Numbers
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Names / Addresses / Phone Numbers
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Business Correspondence
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Business Contacts / Vendor Information / Customer Names
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Business Contracts / Invoices / Marketing Plans/Studies /
Business Plans / Confidential Proposals
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Health Care Information, Client Data
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And More
When
it comes time to replace or dispose of your computer hardware,
there?s a risk that individuals or competitors could access your
personal information or your business?s most sensitive information.
Not shredding paper is bad enough, but not properly
discarding of computer media can multiply the attacker's haul by
orders of magnitude. Discarded CD-ROMs, DVDs, Computer Hard Drives
and other Electronic Devices can provide gigabytes of potentially
useful information to the bad guys. The attackers have the
advantage. How? This information is electronically searchable,
making the attackers job less tedious and time consuming.
Recent Security Incidents in the news
have awakened IT Managers/IT Security Managers and Home Computer
User's of the need for Securely Erasing Hard Drives or Destroying
Hard Drives from Home PC's and Organizations Workstations and
Servers.
Did
you know that Microsoft Windows XP and Vista are not capable of
actually deleting anything from your computers hard drive?
Few people
realize that every Web Page, Picture or Movie/Video Clip that they
view on the Internet is written to the hard drive. Instant
Messenger/Chat Room Conversations, Internet Search Phrases,
Passwords, Internet Surfing History are all written to the hard
drive. Documents, Spreadsheets or E-Mails that you Read or
Compose, and latter decide to erase, are not really erased.
Everything that is done on a computer is TRACEABLE and RECOVERABLE
using Computer Forensics Technology.
FORMATTING
A HARD DRIVE DOES NOT ERASE THE DATA.
THE RISKS-DISCLOSURE OF
SECURITY INCIDENTS INVOLVING DATA SPILLS
Hard Drives Exposed
Story From PC World 3/3/2003
An examination of used hard drives we bought or salvaged in the
Boston area disclosed a wealth of sensitive data. On all but one of
them, we found data, including Confidential Business, Medical, and
Legal Records; Social Security, Credit Card, and Bank Account
Numbers; E-Mails; and even Pornography.
Most of the information was easy pickings--even on drives whose
previous owners had attempted to erase data, either by deleting
files and emptying the recycle bin or by reformatting the
disk--measures that simply conceal the data from the operating
system. Not surprisingly, when the former computer owners were
contacted, they were shocked to learn that strangers had accessed
their information.
PC World also confirmed the findings of a study conducted earlier at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two graduate students,
Simson Garfinkel (who is also a prolific technology writer) and Abhi
Shelat, bought 158 hard drives on EBay and from online shops. Of 129
drives that worked, 69 had recoverable files and 49 contained
personal information, including 3700 credit card numbers, medical
data, and pornography. Only 12 of the usable drives had been
properly purged.
"This is a serious problem," Shelat says. Businesses become
vulnerable when they unwittingly share sensitive information. And
individuals leave themselves open to identity theft, a potentially
ruinous crime that the Federal Trade Commission received nearly
162,000 complaints about in 2002--almost double the 2001 total
Click Here For:
Veterans
Administration Toughens Security After PC Disposal Blunders
Legal And Regulatory Compliance
Disposing of government agencies and corporate/business computers
without ensuring that hard drives have been sanitized or destroyed,
presents huge business risks as well as the danger of non-compliance
with federal laws including the;
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
- Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act
- FDA Security Regulations (21 C.F.R. part 11)
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act
- Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)
- Patriot Act of 2002
- US Safe Harbor Provisions
- PCI Data Security Standard
- Privacy Act Of 1974
- Various state laws
Financial penalties for non-compliance can be severe. An even larger
expense/liability is the requirement to notify all individuals and
organization that may be affected by the incident.
Consequences and Penalties for Non-Compliance
| |
Gramm Leach Bliley |
Sarbanes Oxley |
FACT Act |
HIPAA |
FISMA |
Directors and Officers
Penalty Per Violation |
$10,000 |
$1,000,000 |
|
|
Termination |
Institution
Penalty Per Violation |
$100,000 |
$5,000,000 |
$11,000 |
$50,000 to
$250,000 |
Agency Budget
Reduction |
|
Years in Prison |
5 to 12 years |
20 years |
|
1 to 10 years |
|
|
FDIC Insurance |
Terminated |
|
|
|
|
|
Impact on Operations |
Cease and Desist |
|
|
|
Congressional
Review |
Individual
Civil Fines |
$1,000,000 |
|
Civil Action |
$25,000 |
|
Institution
Civil Fines |
1% of Assets |
|
|
|
*Varies Per Record |
The fines above are all per
violation. Thousands of potential violations may exist on a
single hard drive.
*U.S. Department of Veteran
Affairs breach resulted in fines of $1,000 per violation and
amounted to $26.5 billion.
Additionally there are mandatory regulations concerning the
Sanitization and Destruction of Classified and Sensitive Information
on Federal Government, Department of Defense and Intelligence
Community Agencies Computer Systems that are removed from service.
Data Destruction Services
The most common erasure technique involves simply "Deleting" the
data, which actually does not erase anything. This "Clearing"
process simply instructs the computer to forget about the data.
Security professionals and hackers can recover that data with tools
that are easy to obtain and many times FREE. This technique is also
known as Computer Forensics Technology.
Our
"Sanitization/Wiping" Process
uses specialized software to overwrite the entire hard drive, so
that the data cannot be recovered.
We also offer a method of Sanitization/Wiping that will only
Sanitize deleted files, leaving the Window Operating System intact.
The extent to which the process is implemented can make it
impossible to recover any data.
Our
Destruction Process
is accomplished using Precision Machining to Destroy the Hard Drive,
so that Data cannot be recovered.
The Sanitization and Destruction methods we use, include
methods defined in NSA and Department of Defense Guidance.
Certification Of Destruction
Our Hard Drive Sanitization and Destruction Service is completely
documented. We will provide you with a Certificate that states the
Serial Number(s) of the hard drive(s) sanitized or destroyed, and
Photo's of the Destruction Process.
Cost
The cost for our Hard Drive Sanitization and Destruction Service
varies, depending on the quantity of hard drives involved. We charge
a small fee for a peace of mind to eliminate the risk of
embarrassment or legal liability down the road. Please call today
for a Free No Obligation Quote.
The Management and
Activities of our Hard Drive/Electronic Media Sanitization Service
are overseen by a US Government Top Secret/SCI Cleared individual.
OTHER
ELECTRONIC DEVICES THAT MAY CONTAIN SENSITIVE DATA OR PERSONAL DATA
Other Electronic Devices that may contain Sensitive or Personal Data
include: None of the Electronic Devices listed below should ever be
released or disposed of without ensuring that data stored on these
devices is Unrecognizable and Unrecoverable.
-
Floppy Disks
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USB Thumb Drives
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Digital Camera Storage Cards
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CDs/DVDS
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Computer Backup Tapes
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Cell Phones
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Personal Digital Assistances/PDAs
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MP3 Players
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Computer Printers
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Fax Machines
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Copiers
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Any Other
Electronic Devices Not Listed Above
If
you need assistance ensuring that any of the Electronic Devices
listed above do not contain Sensitive or Personal Data, please
contact us.
