[LINK] To keep those secrets safe, beat your computer's brains out with a hammer

[Rick Welykochy]

When you discard, sell, dispose of an old PC, do you take any measures
to wipe the hard drives clean?


To keep those secrets safe, beat your computer's brains out with a hammer
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1487674,00.html>

HAVE YOU been reduced to a state of such furious impotence by your computer that you wanted to smash it into a thousand 
tiny pieces? Perhaps the world would be a safer place if you did.

Businesses and private users are failing properly to delete sensitive information stored on their computers before the 
machines are sold on. This has made the burgeoning trade in secondhand computer parts a potential treasure trove for 
blackmailers, paedophiles and fraudsters.

A research team from Glamorgan University analysed 111 supposedly clean hard drives, bought for less than £1,000, and 
found that more than half still contained personal information. This included national insurance numbers, evidence of a 
married woman’s affair and detailed biographical information about children.

[SNIP]


cheers
rickw



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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

Blessed are the cracked for they let in the light.
      -- Spike Milligan