Blackberries, I-Phones, PDA’s, and flash drives. – Do I really need to destroy these?

by Michael Wakefield
Blackberries, I-Phones, PDA’s, and flash drives. – Do I really need to destroy these?

 

 

We all know that paper, tapes, optical media (CD/DVD/Blue Rays), and hard drives with sensitive information on them need to be safe-guarded. We commonly shred, degauss, and destroy these items because we all realize the damage they could cause if the information were to get into the wrong hands.

 

Many people don’t realize that old blackberries/I-Phones, PDA’s, and even thumb drives, can also pose a security risk. These items are commonly turned in by departing employees or replaced due to a technology refresh, and they pose a very large threat to your data security.

 

Do you need to destroy these? ABSOLUTELY Here's why.

 

Special care needs to be taken because all of these items contain flash memory, which is the same digital memory that is used on thumb or jump drives. Flash memory has become very popular in the small electronics market. Compared to the traditional hard drive, this type of memory is not only smaller, lighter, and has no moving parts, but it is also faster and can hold much more data. We will definitely see more of this memory in the future.

 

Solid State Drives (SSD’s) are now coming into the market, which will also require physical destruction to destroy the data since degaussing has no effect on flash media. Unlike a traditional hard drive, once you put information on flash memory it is there forever and cannot be erased, re-formatted, or degaussed. Even though you can clear the device and it appears to be empty, all the information that was ever put on the device is still there and recovering it is not a very sophisticated process. Now that we know we have a problem, what method can you use to securely and efficiently destroy this information? The only way to destroy this embedded or hidden information is to physically destroy/shred the device and the flash memory within.

 

Disintegration is the most effective and secure way to accomplish this task. The disintegrator will shred the devices (minus the batteries please!) into tiny pieces so you can be sure the information will not be coming back. The National Security Agency has recommended destruction of SSD’s down to a dust-like 2mm x 2mm particle, if the drives have any classified or Top Secret information on them.

 

You may not need this high level of destruction and may want to opt for a friendly, low-speed/high-torque shredder, like one of the SEM Jackhammer systems. The Jackhammer series doesn’t shred as fine as the disintegrator, but it does a great job of quickly destroying these items and protecting your information.

 

Now that ‘you’re in the know’ you might want to think twice before you toss out, donate, or sell that old cell phone/PDA on E-bay…