In a practice many experts describe as “killing a fly with a nuclear bomb,” many of the world’s largest technology companies have been found to destroy thousands of storage devices each year in order to stay bound by data protection rules.
according to financial times (FT), Amazon and Microsoft (two of the world’s largest data centers (Opens in a new tab) The operators would prefer) to destroy every single piece of data-carrying hardware that they no longer plan to actually use, rather than leaking the data by wiping the devices clean and selling them on the secondary market.
“If we let anyone [piece of data] An Amazon employee told the newspaper F, on condition of anonymity. Amazon declined to comment.
Is wiping a disk that dangerous?
It is not limited to data center operators only, although public sector organizations, various ministries, police departments, and many others, all choose the physical destruction of equipment, for the same reasons.
At the same time, shutting down data center equipment has turned into a full-blown industry, and the professionals working there are arguing against the practice.
Scanning endpoints, and selling them on secondary markets, has multiple benefits, and very few risks – if done correctly. Some of the materials used to create data volumes are difficult to obtain. On top of that, the revamped gear isn’t significantly less performing compared to the new gear, so it makes sense in terms of performance as well. It is clear – it is cheaper and “environmentally friendly”.
But experts should be brought in, otherwise the probability of a catastrophe is very high. A good example of malpractice came from Morgan Stanley, who was fined last month after hiring an inexperienced company to deal with a hard drive shutdown. Instead of properly wiping the disks, the contractor sold the hardware online — with the data still on it, prompting a painful reaction from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Morgan Stanley ended up paying $35 million to settle.
Tikradar Pro Contact Amazon and Microsoft for comment.
Via: Financial Times (Opens in a new tab)