Second hand servers a security risk
It seems that the chance of confidential information falling into the wrong hands is still high with concerning news this month that an IT manager found confidential details of over a million UK high-street bank customers on a server he bought on eBay for £77. According to Icomm Technology’s Ian Callens, SMEs need to have stringent practices in place when disposing of end-of-life infrastructure.
Companies in the business of IT disposal and recycling have the ability to process thousands of items per day. When looked at in terms of the number of these companies in the UK and the number of businesses using IT, the quantity of items sent for disposal is huge. The issue of IT disposal is something most SMEs will encounter and this inevitably holds implications for company data. According to Callens:
"As the most widely used storage medium today, it is no wonder hard drives represent one of the biggest security challenges. It should be top priority for SMEs to ensure that all data stored on a hard drive or server is completely eliminated before it is redeployed, disposed of or sold. There are a number of solutions for eradicating data but choosing the right one will depend on the intended deployment after."
SMEs may already be in the practice of selling on end-of-life equipment in order to bring some cash-flow back into the business or donate the proceeds to a good cause. If this is the case, data wiping methods need to ensure the equipment is re-usable whilst protecting the integrity of the data.
Callens suggests that "purge" technology is the best nondestructive method available for sanitizing hard-drive data:
"The technology to ‘purge’ company data has been implemented by all hard drive manufacturers since 2002, although there isn’t enough information readily available on it. This is through the Secure Erase standard which is embedded in the firmware of all ATA/IDE and SATA hard drives and is recommended by the National Institute for Standards and Technology. In addition, it is able to purge all sectors of the hard drive as it has direct access to all bad sector tables stored internally on the drive while maintaining its working capability."
Employees unfamiliar with internal workings of IT may fail to appreciate the scope of hidden information and may unknowingly put company data in the wrong hands despite following instructions to move the equipment on.
"It is essential that all SMEs communicate the importance of hidden data to all employees especially when there is a re-vamp of the infrastructure" said Callens; "To allow confidential company data to be compromised by moving infrastructure on without an audit could be very costly and embarrassing as some senior government officials have already found."
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2008.10.10 (LM)
