Think twice before selling a used hard drive: Did you really delete everything?
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If a hard drive or SSD is no longer in use, how many people would choose to sell it second-hand? If the hard drive you want to sell has stored important things, and you think they are empty, be careful - because you may not have deleted it completely. A new survey recently pointed out that the vast majority of people do not take necessary measures before selling used mechanical hard drives or SSDs, that is, they do not completely clean the data in them. This poses a certain risk because the buyer may obtain the seller's personal data or even important business information. The survey was completed by Blancco Technologies. They purchased more than 200 used hard drives from eBay and Craigslist (93% were mechanical hard drives and the rest were SSDs). As a result, their digital forensics experts found that they could recover more data from them than they thought. More than 78% of the used hard drives had residual data, and 67% contained information that could identify individuals. What is more worrying is that 11% of them stored sensitive business information that could be extracted. In terms of business data, forensics experts extracted company email information from 9% of the used hard drives , and spreadsheets such as sales forecasts were present in 5% of the hard drives. 3% of the hard drives could be extracted to obtain actual consumer data. The personal data area is still shocking. Photos were recovered from 43% of the hard drives, while another 23% stored social security numbers, 21% had financial information, and 10% had resumes. This information, extracted by experts, could be harmful to both businesses and individuals. The biggest problem is that most people don’t realize that deleting a file (and then emptying the Recycle Bin) is not really erasing it. It may be deleted at the OS level, but the data still remains on the physical disk until new data overwrites it. 36% of people simply delete the files on the hard drive before selling it, but the most common method is quick formatting, which 40% of people do. Even formatting does not really erase the data from the physical disk, and it is still possible to recover it. In order to ensure that the data on the mechanical hard drive or SSD is truly completely destroyed, it is necessary to adopt a data erasure method that meets safety standards, such as actively overwriting all traces of the data (usually multiple times to ensure that nothing readable is left). The survey found that only 10% of second-hand hard drives have been properly erased. Pat Clawson, CEO of Blancco Technologies, commented: "Even in today's most technology-focused companies, IT executives and CIOs often devote the majority of their attention, resources and budgets to fending off data security threats. Our research demonstrates just how dangerous data can be when it is not securely and completely wiped."As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity. |
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