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Data erasure

Data erasure: why?

As a business, you don’t want your sensitive data to fall into the wrong hands. Improper data deletion can lead to serious security issues, legal complications, and reputational damage. Given the value and sensitivity of business and personal data, it’s essential to handle old hardware securely and professionally. Here are the main risks that companies must avoid by carefully managing data deletion:

1. Protection of Sensitive Data
Thorough data deletion is crucial for businesses to prevent company or personal data from falling into the wrong hands. When old hardware is not properly wiped, sensitive information such as customer data or internal documents can be easily stolen or misused. Hackers can even use just a small amount of this data to advance in breaching your systems, leading to greater security risks.

2. Preventing Reputational Damage
Data leaks, even if accidental, can have serious consequences for your organization. Customers and partners expect their data to be handled securely. When it’s revealed that sensitive information has been leaked due to careless data deletion, it can severely damage your company’s reputation. Trust is hard to rebuild, and competitors may take advantage of the situation, affecting your market share.

3. Legal Risks and Fines
Organizations must comply with strict laws and regulations, such as the GDPR, which require data to be deleted securely and responsibly. Failure to properly destroy data can lead to heavy fines and legal issues. Businesses risk substantial penalties, even when data is accidentally exposed due to negligent data deletion, which can cause significant financial damage and reputational loss.

4. Protection Against Recoverable Data
A simple deletion or formatting of data is often insufficient to completely destroy information. Data can often be recovered with the right tools, even after files are deleted or hard drives are formatted. It’s essential to remove data in a certified manner to ensure it is permanently wiped. This prevents sensitive company data from ending up on discarded laptops or PCs that may be resold, posing a significant risk of data leaks and unauthorized access.

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Secure data erasure

Data erasure: what is it?

Data deletion, or data wiping, with specialized data erasure software from Blancco makes the data on a storage device unreadable by overwriting it in a specific way. The advantage of software-based data deletion is that the storage device can be reused, thus retaining its value. Data deletion is a standard part of our ITAD services.

Blancco is a powerful software solution for securely and permanently removing data from storage devices like hard drives, laptops, smartphones, and servers. It works by overwriting files multiple times with random data, making it virtually impossible to recover the original information. This process is carried out using different algorithms, depending on the device type, ensuring that even the most sensitive data is irretrievably erased. After the process is complete, Blancco generates a detailed report, which is useful for audit purposes and demonstrates compliance with data security standards such as GDPR and NIST guidelines.

Using Blancco is essential for both individuals and businesses looking to sell, recycle, or reuse old devices without the risk of data breaches. For companies handling confidential customer or business data, Blancco offers a secure and certified way to ensure data is deleted responsibly, which is crucial for regulatory compliance. Whether you’re selling your old laptop or securely wiping devices in your company, Blancco guarantees that your data is permanently and safely removed.

When to apply data erasure?

There are various situations in which data erasure is an absolute must for any organization.

Discard
The IT equipment is at the end of its lifecycle and can no longer be used. Prevent your data falling into the wrong hands, and have it 100% securely erased before it is recycled.

Selling
If you sell or donate your old IT equipment, then have the data erased first. After that, you can hand over the equipment to the new owner with peace of mind.

Re-deployment
A laptop or PC is used again for another employee. Have the data erased first, and then give the cleaned device to the new user.

Data erasure with software; is that secure?

The Blancco data erasure software used by CTC is among the most secure in the world.

Blancco’s Data Erasure software is certified by (among others) the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, and is recommended by leading organizations all over the world. No other data erasure software for erasing information from data carriers has this level of conformity with strict standards.

After the data has been erased, you always receive an official certificate from us for each data carrier as proof that the information has been successfully erased!

Data erasure, always with an official data erasure certificate

Our certifications offer you extra certainty. We are certified for:
ISO 9001 ISO 14001 ISO 27001 WEEELABEX Blancco

How does data erasure by CTC work?

Let CTC securely erase your data. Make an appointment now, or ask for more information

We perform the extremely secure data erasure using Blancco software in our well equipped service center in Nieuwegein (cheapest option) or we come to your location.

ITAD CTC call us

1 We pick up your data carriers

Call +31 30-248 40 03 to make an appointment

CTC-magazijn

2 Transport to our service center

We make sure your data carriers are shipped safely.

Hardware wordt geregistreerd

3 Data carrier registration

Upon arrival, your data carriers are registered.

ITAD Blancco dataverwijdering

4 Erasure of data carriers

Your data carriers are safely wiped with Blancco.

ITAD CTC Report and Certificates

5 Reports, certification and invoice

Afterwards you’ll receive the invoice, certifications on each data carrier and detailed reports.

ITAD Hardware verwerking door CTC

6 Transport back to you

After successful data erasure, your data carriers can be used again.

Hard drive destruction

Are your hard drives at the end of their life, or does your organization have specific requirement?

With its powerful shredder, CTC provides a very secure method for permanently erasing information from hard drives and numerous other data carriers. This can be done as a supplement to software-based data erasure, or if your organization specifically requires it.

In contrast to data erasure, the data carriers do lose their value because they are no longer usable.

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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about data erasure

Data wiping, also known as data erasing or deletion, is the process of completely and irreversibly removing all data from a storage medium, such as a hard drive or SSD. This goes beyond simple ‘deletion’ since deleted data can often be recovered. During data wiping, data is overwritten multiple times in a specific manner, making recovery impossible. This ensures optimal data protection when disposing of or selling surplus hardware.

The difference between deleting and formatting has to do with how data is removed from a device and to what extent it is actually made unrecoverable.

  • Deleting means that files are removed from the device, but the data itself can often still be easily recovered using specialized software. This is because operating systems typically only delete the reference to the file, not the actual data.
  • Formatting, on the other hand, is the process of reorganizing and reinitializing the entire storage space, which essentially erases all data. However, similar to deleting, data can often still be recovered with the right techniques unless a special encrypted and/or secure formatting method is used to actually overwrite the data.

For truly secure data removal, it’s often recommended to use data destruction software that overwrites data multiple times, making it completely unreadable and unrecoverable. CTC’s certification for Blancco ensures that we comply with the highest standards for data wiping and processing, and that we are able to responsibly remove sensitive information.

When deleting data, it’s essential to erase all sensitive information, including personally identifiable information, financial details, and company information. Correctly deleting data protects against cybercrime and helps comply with GDPR regulations.

CTC uses Blancco’s Data Erasure software to wipe data carriers. This software is renowned for its security and has been certified by various bodies, including the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service. After erasing the data, you receive an official certificate as proof of successful removal.

Shredding data carriers destroys the data and makes reusing, e.g., the laptop, almost impossible. Software-based erasure, like with Blancco’s Data Erasure, safely removes data while preserving the hardware’s value. The choice depends on information security guidelines, costs, and sustainability needs.