When it comes to Sanitizing and Destroying U.S. Government Sensitive or Classified Data, Business Data or Personal Data from Computer Hard Drives, TopSecretProtection.Com is your best choice. Why?, the owner of TopSecretProtection.Com has been responsible for Protecting U.S. Government Sensitive and Classified Information up to the Top Secret SCI Level. See the About Us section of this website for further details.

WHY DO HARD DRIVES NEED TO BE DESTROYED OR SECURELY ERASED?
Most Government Organizations, Businesses and Home Computers User's do not fully understand the risks of selling, giving away or simply disposing of old or non-working computers. These computers are given away or just taken to the local dump.

Today, just about every piece of information about your personal life and your business passes through a network of computers. Your computer is like a tape recorder, recording everything. What information does / can your computer hard drive store?

When it comes time to replace or dispose of your computer hardware, there’s a risk that individuals or competitors could access your personal information or your business’s most sensitive information. Not shredding paper is bad enough, but not properly discarding of computer media can multiply the attacker's haul by orders of magnitude. Discarded CD-ROMs, DVDs, Computer Hard Drives and other Electronic Devices can provide gigabytes of potentially useful information to the bad guys. The attackers have the advantage. How? This information is electronically searchable, making the attackers job less tedious and time consuming.

Recent Security Incidents in the news have awakened IT Managers/IT Security Managers and Home Computer User's of the need for Securely Erasing Hard Drives or Destroying Hard Drives from Home PC's and Organizations Workstations and Servers.

Did you know that Microsoft Windows XP and Vista are not capable of actually deleting anything from your computers hard drive?
Few people realize that every Web Page, Picture or Movie/Video Clip that they view on the Internet is written to the hard drive. Instant Messenger/Chat Room Conversations, Internet Search Phrases, Passwords, Internet Surfing History are all written to the hard drive. Documents, Spreadsheets or E-Mails that you Read or Compose, and latter decide to erase, are not really erased. Everything that is done on a computer is TRACEABLE and RECOVERABLE using Computer Forensics Technology.
FORMATTING A HARD DRIVE DOES NOT ERASE THE DATA.

THE RISKS-DISCLOSURE OF

SECURITY INCIDENTS INVOLVING DATA SPILLS
Hard Drives Exposed
Story From PC World 3/3/2003

An examination of used hard drives we bought or salvaged in the Boston area disclosed a wealth of sensitive data. On all but one of them, we found data, including Confidential Business, Medical, and Legal Records; Social Security, Credit Card, and Bank Account Numbers; E-Mails; and even Pornography.

Most of the information was easy pickings--even on drives whose previous owners had attempted to erase data, either by deleting files and emptying the recycle bin or by reformatting the disk--measures that simply conceal the data from the operating system. Not surprisingly, when the former computer owners were contacted, they were shocked to learn that strangers had accessed their information.

PC World also confirmed the findings of a study conducted earlier at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two graduate students, Simson Garfinkel (who is also a prolific technology writer) and Abhi Shelat, bought 158 hard drives on EBay and from online shops. Of 129 drives that worked, 69 had recoverable files and 49 contained personal information, including 3700 credit card numbers, medical data, and pornography. Only 12 of the usable drives had been properly purged.

"This is a serious problem," Shelat says. Businesses become vulnerable when they unwittingly share sensitive information. And individuals leave themselves open to identity theft, a potentially ruinous crime that the Federal Trade Commission received nearly 162,000 complaints about in 2002--almost double the 2001 total

Click Here For:
Veterans Administration Toughens Security After PC Disposal Blunders


LEGAL AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Disposing of government agencies and corporate/business computers without ensuring that hard drives have been sanitized or destroyed, presents huge business risks as well as the danger of non-compliance with federal laws including the;

Financial penalties for non-compliance can be severe. An even larger expense/liability is the requirement to notify all individuals and organization that may be affected by the incident.

Our "Sanitization/Wiping" Process uses specialized software to overwrite the entire hard drive, so that the data cannot be recovered. We also offer a method of Sanitization/Wiping that will only Sanitize deleted files, leaving the Window Operating System intact. The extent to which the process is implemented can make it impossible to recover any data.

Our Destruction Process is accomplished using Precision Machining to Destroy the Hard Drive, so that Data cannot be recovered.
The Sanitization and Destruction methods we use, include methods defined in NSA and Department of Defense Guidance.

CERTIFICATION OF DESTRUCTION
Our Hard Drive Sanitization and Destruction Service is completely documented. We will provide you with a Certificate that states the Serial Number(s) of the hard drive(s) sanitized or destroyed, and Photo's of the Destruction Process.

COST
The cost for our Hard Drive Sanitization and Destruction Service varies, depending on the quantity of hard drives involved. We charge a small fee for a peace of mind to eliminate the risk of embarrassment or legal liability down the road. Please call today for a Free No Obligation Quote.

The Management and Activities of our Hard Drive/Electronic Media Sanitization Service are overseen by a US Government Top Secret/SCI Cleared individual.

OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES THAT MAY CONTAIN SENSITIVE DATA OR PERSONAL DATA
Other Electronic Devices that may contain Sensitive or Personal Data include: None of the Electronic Devices listed below should ever be released or disposed of without ensuring that data stored on these devices is Unrecognizable and Unrecoverable.

If you need assistance ensuring that any of the Electronic Devices listed above do not contain Sensitive or Personal Data, please contact us.