What Is Data Destruction And Why Is It Important?

All businesses store a vast amount of extremely important and confidential data. So making sure that this crucial data does not fall into the wrong hands is integral for a company to run smoothly. If data leaks, then it could leave a company in a highly vulnerable and exposed position.

Unfortunately, data breaches are consistently on the rise year after year. These breaches can be extremely damaging to not only your company but also any client that you may have whose data was within the leak. This is why it is important to take all the precautions you can to ensure that your data is as safe as possible.

Data destruction processes allow companies to completely wipe hard drives and dispose of confidential data as a preventative measure to make sure that the data cannot be involved in a drastic leak.

What Is Data Destruction?

Data destruction is the process of destroying important and confidential data on hard drives, hard disks, and documents to ensure that it is completely unreadable or destroyed, and therefore not vulnerable to falling into the wrong hands. It allows a company to make sure that data cannot be accessed or used for any purposes that are not authorized.

The data destruction service process guarantees that the data cannot be recovered once it has been destroyed, and you can be assured that your data has been safely eradicated. This thorough destruction is essential to protecting sensitive company data, and can also meet and adhere to compliance regulations.

There are many regulations surrounding the storage and destruction of data that data destruction adheres to. Data destruction is also an incredibly easy and cost-effective way of preventing the recovery of files or other confidential data of a company.

While many people believe them to be very similar, data destruction differs massively from the typical methods of data erasure such as file deletion or computer bins. Data destruction guarantees that data is not just deleted from an electrical device, but that it is eradicated altogether and rendered completely unrecoverable.

What Are The Different Kinds Of Data Destruction Methods

With the destruction of data being so important to business operations, there are a number of ways in which you can destroy your data. Some are more drastic than others, and yet they all have the same goal. What you do have to take into account is that each of these methods has its own pros and cons. It is up to organizations to weigh the options and choose which best meets their needs.

Delete/Reformat

The process of deleting or reformatting data is a far less drastic measure than some of the other data destruction methods. Deleting data removes it from a device, but will not completely eradicate all of the data and information altogether. Therefore, it will only remove data from the single device that you delete it from, as opposed to getting rid of the data from a hard drive.

Similarly, reformatting a file will do the same thing. It will not permanently remove data from a disk, hard drive, or any other memory device. It will only reformat the file by relapsing the existing file system with a new one. This is reversible, and therefore the data can be restored if needed.

These are the perfect methods for companies who do want to have the ability to access the data at any point for whatever reason. These methods are not very secure and can be ineffective in the event of data breaches or data leaks.

Wiping Data

The process of wiping data erases data from electronic devices so that it cannot be accessed by any user. The process of wiping will destroy all data but will save the essential features and processes of the device being wiped. Wiping data can be done by using either a wiping device or wiping software, but can also be very time-consuming.

This process is not very time effective, and can often be delayed if you are wiping a large number of computers and data. So if you are an organization that has a large amount of data and devices that need wiping, then it will take a considerable amount of time and can be very costly.

Data wiping is only effective if a company needs to retain its current storage systems for practical or financial reasons. However, if you are looking for a quick and effective way to fully erase data then there are far better methods that will fulfill your needs better.

Overriding Data

The process of overriding data involves a thorough wipe of all hard drive sectors by overwriting it with unreadable changes that will make sure that the data is undetectable. This will typically be done by using characters such as numbers or symbols and rendering the files completely useless.

All of the data that has been overwritten during this process is completely unrecoverable and is therefore fully destroyed. This gives organizations peace of mind as they cannot be vulnerable or exposed in the event of a data breach.

When dealing with lower security organizations, you should only need to complete the overriding process on one occasion. However, organizations with higher security data may need to perform an override on a number of occasions to ensure that there are no shadow bytes that can be used to record information on the original data.

Degaussing

Degaussing is a process that demagnetizes the magnetic field on a hard drive or other storage media in order to destroy all of the data stored on it. Degaussing can be used to destroy data on both tape and disk media devices such as computer and laptop hard drives, diskettes, reels, and cartridge tapes.

Degaussing works by delivering a powerful magnetic pulse that will instantaneously destroy all magnetic domains and therefore any data on a disk. This unique process is commonly used in even the highest security industries due to its incredible effectiveness and its permanent results.

Data degaussers are effective as they have the ability to erase a significant amount of data very quickly. It is also extremely secure and irreversible, and the data that is destroyed will not be accessible again even with the most advanced technology.

Physical Destruction

Physical destruction involves using brute force to destroy all storage devices featuring classified and sensitive data such as hard drives, USBs, computers, smartphones, and more. While this is an extreme method, it is incredibly effective and will ensure that the data is fully destroyed.

There are a number of ways in which data can be physically destroyed which all will ensure that the data is left unable to recover. The physical methods include melting, drilling, smashing, and many other ways that use physical force to render the data unreadable and unrecoverable.

There are a few issues that come with physical destruction. It leaves you exposed to human errors and even manipulation. Physical destruction can leave parts of the hard drive, or other storage methods intact, and therefore still in a preposition to have data retrieved through intricate processes. However, more often than not the data will be completely illegible and unable to be recovered.

Shredding

The shredding of data is by far the most effective physical form of destruction. It is an incredibly secure and cost-effective way of physically destroying and erasing classified data that you do not want to end up in the wrong hands. It is a phenomenal way of physically destroying hard drives and other data drives in a timely manner.

The shredder will destroy the storage medium on a hard drive as well as other electrical and mechanical components on the drive into tiny segments. Shredding will completely destroy all data on drives and ensures that there is no way of recovering any piece of the data. This helps organizations feel confident that their data is fully destroyed and irreparable.

Due to their effectiveness and speed, data shredders are perfect for high-security organizations with huge stockpiles of data that need to be destroyed. It is an extremely simple task that can eliminate years worth of data in a short amount of time.

What Is The Best Method Of Data Destruction?

All of these methods of data destruction have their own pros and cons that could make them perfect for one company, and not suitable for another. Each company has its own levels of data security and its own data systems. Therefore, different methods of data destruction appeal to different companies.

Furthermore, hard drive shredding is an efficient way of destroying data that is completely irreversible, and therefore secure. It allows you to get through a huge amount of data in a short period of time, no matter how high your data stockpiles are.

Shredding data such as documents, digital files, disks, or hard drives with data shredders will guarantee that the data is completely destroyed. This will therefore ensure that all of your data, employee data, and your client data is extremely secure and no longer vulnerable to a potential data breach.

Degaussing is also one of the most effective methods of data destruction. It is a process that is commonly used by military personnel to ensure that hard drive data is completely destroyed and that the hard drives cannot be used again afterward.

However, it is up to an organization to choose which data destruction service procedure works best for them and their data systems.

Why Is Secure Data Destruction So Important?

Both company data and personal data are sensitive. It is therefore a top priority for organizations to make sure that their data is as safe and secure as possible. The last thing that any company wants is to fall victim to a serious data breach that can expose classified data from not only the company but also personal employee data and client data.

This kind of catastrophe can not only leak some very sensitive and classified data, but it can also result in employees and clients losing trust in you. This could then have a huge impact on your organization and the morale within your company.

As a company, it is important to not keep too much data stored up as it can make you very vulnerable to cyber-attacks. That is why many organizations go through data destruction services as a preventative measure to make sure that they are not as exposed if the worst were to happen.

Destroying this sensitive data at the end of its life cycle is extremely important to ensure that the data does not end up in the wrong hands. When the data is completely destroyed, then it cannot be repaired, and therefore no one can have unauthorized access to the data, as it no longer exists.

In addition to this, data destruction is extremely important as companies have data destruction laws that they have to follow and adhere to. If organizations are not compliant with these laws, then they could face serious legal ramifications that could result in legal sanctions that have a huge effect on business operations and finances.

Benefits Of Secure Data Destruction

Data destruction helps companies to securely and safely eliminate all data to ensure that they do not have excessive amounts of data laying around, which can make them vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Cybersecurity attacks or data breaches from hackers can be extremely costly for small and large businesses, so it is important to prevent your business from being exposed.

Data destruction is a phenomenally effective data breach preventative measure that helps to protect your data and ensure you are not vulnerable or exposed to a potentially drastic data breach. Data breaches are catastrophic for organizations as they can leak sensitive and confidential information.

The data destruction process can help you to adhere to important data privacy and protection laws. If you were to breach data laws, then you could be extremely vulnerable to financial sanctions that could have negative impacts on your business.

It allows companies to be assured that their important data along with personal employee data and client data will not end up in the wrong hands in the form of a cyber attack or drastic data breach.

The Challenges Of Destroying Data

We live in a world where data, data storage, and data privacy are invaluable. That is why making sure that your data is fully secure and classified is integral to smooth business operations, even after the data has been used. This in itself creates a huge challenge as both keeping and disposing of data is a very difficult job that has to be done correctly to avoid your data ending up in the wrong hands.

Ensuring All Data Is Destroyed - One of the biggest challenges and risks of data destruction is ensuring that the data has been destroyed thoroughly and properly. If the data has not been fully destroyed, and it is able to be recovered during an unfortunate data breach then you could risk damaging the reputation of your organization. This could then have huge implications for operating in the future.

Lengthy Process - In some cases, the destruction of important data can be a very lengthy process. This is because you have to assign responsibilities and ownership to employees or third parties. It is important that these are people that you can fully trust with such sensitive information. Responsibilities given to the wrong person could cause an unwanted disruption or delay in the destruction of the data.

Legal Risks - If data is not disposed of in the correct way during a data destruction process, then you could leave yourself exposed to legal trouble. This is because if the data is not fully disposed of correctly, the data could end up being used in a way that is illegal such as identity theft or even fraud. This could have major legal ramifications which could affect your business.

Financial Risks - As with any decision you make as an organization, there are potential financial risks to data destruction. If the data is not fully destroyed, then it could be used in an unauthorized manner, which could lead to financial losses. As stated before, it could also lead to legal implications which can have monetary sanctions placed on your organization.

Permanent Loss Of Data - Sometimes people do not fully understand that the process of data destruction fully destroys all data. This means that if destroyed correctly, you will never be able to access the data again. When done correctly, there is zero technology that can recover or repair any of the data.

Data Destruction Laws

Data destruction is not as simple as just destroying old data that an organization does not want to be piled up. There are many regulations and laws that go into the data destruction process that must be followed in order to protect the company, its employees, and its customers. Failure to comply with these laws can have huge legal ramifications and could have a detrimental effect on your company.

• NIST SP 800:88 - NIST SP 800:88, also known as NIST Special Publication 800-88 is a data sanitization guideline that provides guidance for erasing data. The objective is to make sure that the data that is erased from hard drives, discs, etc, is irretrievable so that the data cannot be accessed unauthorized. It helps people to have a watertight data handling and destruction strategy that ensures that data does not end up with unintended parties.

• DoD 5220.22-M - Also known as the UD DoD Data wipe technique, this regulation specifies a particular method to dispose of all data from hard drives, disks, and other memory regions. This particular algorithm has been established in the industry as one of the most secure data destruction processes. It involves overriding the previous data with binary patterns that will be illegible.

4 Ways To Improve Your Data Destruction Process

Establish A Records Retention Schedule

Establishing a records retention schedule is important for companies that have a consistent data destruction schedule. This is because it helps to identify the length of time that a document should be held before it gets destroyed.

This is important for businesses as they want to make sure that the data that they are destroying is old data that is no longer needed. The schedule confirms that the documents that are going through that data destruction process are outdated and no longer valuable to the organization.

In addition to this, any record or schedule that helps to keep on top of the data that is getting destroyed can be extremely beneficial to an organization. It allows an organization to see exactly what has been destroyed, and what is yet to be destroyed, and can therefore still be accessed and vulnerable in the event of a data breach or leak.

Develop A Document Destruction Process

When frequently destroying data, it is beneficial to develop a consistent data destruction process with all of your data. This will allow you to feel fully confident and guarantees that your data will not end up in the wrong hands.

This process should outline the exact steps that should be taken to destroy data in accordance with your organization’s Records & Information Policy (RIM). Your data destruction process will ensure that all of your data disposal is done in the exact same way to maintain consistency.

The document destruction process will also help you to share the responsibility with different employees and teams, and still keep a consistent and uniform destruction approach. This will help to keep the data destruction process and sensitive data more secure.

Monitor Your Process And Adjust If Needed

You should continuously monitor your data destruction process, and make sure that it is as effective and as time efficient as it possibly can be. As your business, document retention, rules, and regulations evolve it is super important that your data destruction processes evolve alongside.

As laws and regulations surrounding data destruction change, it is vital that you have the flexibility to modify your data destruction processes. Failure to do so could get you into legal trouble that could have serious sanctions put on your organization.

Establish A Document Holding Process

During the data destruction process, it is not uncommon for there to be different disturbances and delays. A document-holding process will help you to smoothly navigate through disruptions and will make sure that your data can be destroyed safely and securely.

Data destruction can be stalled for both business reasons and regulatory reasons, so it is integral that you know exactly what to do in the event of this. Your holding process will outline exactly what needs to be done.