15.01.2024 Views

CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

even if it’s simply e-mail messages or notes-to-self that would cause

embarrassment if discovered. Most PCs, especially in a work environment,

contain a lot of sensitive data. You can’t just format C: and hand over the

drive.

Follow three principles when migrating or retiring a computer. First,

migrate your users and data information in a secure environment. Until you

get passwords properly in place and test the security of the new system, you

can’t consider that system secure. Second, remove data remnants from hard

drives that you store or give to charity. Third, recycle the older equipment;

don’t throw it in the trash. PC recyclers go through a process of

deconstructing hardware, breaking system units, keyboards, printers, and

even monitors into their basic plastics, metals, and glass for reuse.

The easiest way for someone to compromise or access sensitive data is to

simply walk up and take it when you’re not looking. This is especially true

when you are in the process of copying information to a new, unprotected

system. Don’t set a copy to run while you go out to lunch, but rather be there

to supervise and remove any remnant data that might still reside on any mass

storage devices, especially hard drives.

Data Destruction

You might think that, as easy as it seems to be to lose data, you could readily

get rid of data if you tried. That’s definitely not the case with magnetic media

such as hard drives. When you delete something in Windows, or even empty

the Recycle Bin, the “deleted” data remains on your storage device until new

data overwrites it, or replaces it. (This “deleted” data is also what you see as

free space in Windows.) This can be a big security hole when you dispose of

a drive.

Cleaning a drive completely is very difficult. You can either physically

destroy the hard drive or sanitize it using a software utility. Physical

destruction isn’t complicated—you bust up the drive into tiny little bits or

melt it. Tools to accomplish this include drive shredders, drills, hammers,

electromagnets, and degaussing tools (which reduce or remove the magnetic

fields that store data on HDDs). Incineration pretty much clears all data. Keep

in mind that, as hard drives advance and pack more data into smaller spaces,

you’ll need to break the hard drive into smaller pieces to prevent anyone from

recovering your data.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!