What is Data Destruction??

What is Data Destruction??
Data destruction is a term which has become increasingly used in today's modern technological world. Similar to physical possessions, data or information is a crucial aspect of daily modern business, whether publicly or privately operated.

Data is sensitive information that is significant to the business, it may contain proprietary information or may relate directly to members of the public. Failure to fully destroy such data prior to decommissioning of I. T. equipment may inadvertently result in the data entering the public domain. Such inadvertent disclosures may have an adverse impact upon a company or public body, leading to negative media coverage, prosecution, brand damage, loss of revenue and unforeseen internal running costs.

When it comes to selecting ways to destroy data, organizations have a short menu. There are three main options: Overwriting, which is covering up old data with information; Degaussing, which erases the magnetic field of the storage media; and Physical Destruction, which employs techniques such as disk shredding. Each of these techniques has benefits and drawbacks, experts say.

Enterprise clients generally have a pretty good idea of how to deal with data destruction and this practice has been relatively consistent over a period of years. Still, some organizations, particularly SME's, need more education about data destruction.