The UK regulator has produced guidance for individuals on how to delete information from computers, laptops and other devices. The guidance follows an investigation by which the regulator hired a company to source hard drives from internet auction sites and elsewhere, then search them for data. As a result of the ICO's investigation, one company, Safe & Secure Insurance Services Limited, has signed an Undertaking to ensure that redundant hard drives and removable media devices used to store personal data are forensically wiped or completely destroyed before being disposed of or reused. The guidance also coincides with a survey showing that one in ten people who have ever disposed of a mobile phone, computer or laptop, said that they had never deleted information held on a device before disposing of it, potentially allowing their data to be accessed by the next person who used it.
Clyde Johnson
Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance