confidential info on old harddrives.

From: Marvin <marvin_at_rain.org>
Date: Wed May 26 16:49:53 1999

Colan Mitchell wrote:
>
> If this is a ? thats been dealt with before I joined the list my
> apologies.
> I repeatedly come across personal and confidential information on
> discarded computers. I sit and shake my head in shock. Lawyers seem to

As standard procedure, I use Nortons DISKWIPE on all disks before I send
them out again (everything so far has been below the 2.1 GB partition
limit.) The most fun I had was when I loaned out a disk to a friend, he used
it and had someone else remove it. This idiot put the volume label "BIG
FUCKER" on the disk which served to push my buttons and he had only
reformatted the drive. After recovering all the files and breaking the
passwords, I gave it back to my friend and then did the job properly.

When talking to others responsible for computers, tell them that story and
also the one where one of the hard drives I acquired had all the banks
financial loan records for a number of people around town. I let the
appropriate people know about that one, and again, properly wiped the disk.
Spreading these types of stories around tends to make people more aware of
the problem.
Received on Wed May 26 1999 - 16:49:53 BST