Most of us know better than to release hard drives - whether they're sitting in PCs, storage arrays, or even BlackBerrys - into the wild before clearing them of sensitive data. But without a clear-cut data erasure policy, we either don't erase them adequately or we put them aside

Bob Sullivan, who covers consumer fraud for MSNBC, writes in his Red Tape Chronicles blog (http://redtape. msnbc.com/2006/06/one_year_ago_ ha.html#posts) about Hank Gerbus, who got a little more than a free replacement for a failed hard drive from his local Best Buy. Because the drive was replaced under warranty, Best Buy wouldn't let Hank have it back, assuring him instead that the drive - which was host to account numbers, retirement data, and other sensitive information - would be properly handled. Six months after replacing the drive, however, Hank got a phone call from Ed, a stranger who told Hank, "I just bought your hard drive in Chicago.? Ed, of course, got Hank's phone number from the hard drive. Best Buy wouldn't publically address the incident. It's a good bet, though, that

for later. That can be hazardous to our businesses, bank accounts, and reputations. "The most dangerous place to keep data is in the closet,?

says Steve Hyser, Director of

Canvas Systems Services, one of the world's largest resellers of

"I Just Bought Your Hard Drive?

32 PowerSourceOnline.com | June 2008 at least a few lawyers would love to. If you resell a server drive covered with credit card numbers or accidentally sell your employees' SSNs along with a used office PC, how many Hanks - and how many lawyers - will you deal with? by Craig Zimmerman

mid-range IT equipment and a provider of secure data erasure

services. Every minute that

elapses between the time a drive is removed from service and when the data on it is securely erased is a huge potential liability, whether you run a two-man shop or a nationwide chain like Best Buy.

HIPAA, SOX,

Microsoft,

and the WSJ Factor

Steve Hyser calls the unwelcome publicity that stories like Hank's generate "the Wall Street Journal factor.? Hyser explains that "the last thing you want to do is end up on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. You don't want anyone to be able to accuse you of not taking the necessary steps to do proper data erasure.? "Any business now has not only customer information, but employee information in many different areas, from the PC to the server to the storage array,? Hyser continues. "There's a potential lawsuit there if it's possible to show that your business wasn't doing everything it could to keep that information confidential.?

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