Over the years, many of us have accumulated a mountain of
CDs, hard drives, devices, online accounts, and other mediums that store information
that are out there and unused. Outside of the key information you kept stored on
purpose for long term use or retrieval, it is good to periodically assess and
dispose of unneeded storage media and information. These days, information may
be split between physical items you have in your possession and online accounts
or cloud-based storage. This weeks’s blog will provide some details on how to
manage your information and data, as well as how to safely dispose of those
pieces you do not need any longer.
Cleaning up Online Accounts and Cloud Storage:
Clean your social media presence
It may have been years
since you logged into an old social media platform that you no longer use. If
that’s the case, consider removing any personally identifiable information like
address, date of birth, and other less sensitive details from the account.
Furthermore, consider closing the account entirely if you don’t think you’ll
have reason to use it anymore. The fewer places you have personal information
stored online, the better!
Keep your social media presence clean
On social media
accounts that you still use, minimize the amount of personal information that
you display. In particular, minimize how visible your information is to any
untrusted individuals. This is especially important as those who are not
approved to be your friend or contact on the platform will be less likely to
view your personal information. Most sites offer this as a privacy option in
the settings for your account.
Close old shopping and rewards accounts
If you do not plan
on shopping on a site, consider removing any payment or personal information
and closing the account. If you rarely shop on a specific website, consider if it’s
necessary to maintain a user account. Most retail sites have a guest account
option for temporary use and lessens the likelihood of your information being
saved.
Cloud storage and files
Many of us use cloud storage services of some sort, whether just for storing our photos from our devices, or for backing up and storing important files. Consider clearing out data and information periodically from these storage accounts that you will not need access to in the future.Physical Storage – Digital and Paper:
CDs, DVDs, Floppy Disks, and other plastic disk media
CD
and DVD discs can be shredded in many common household paper shredders (check
to ensure your shredder is rated for this). After validating if you need the
information or not, consider this best and irreversible method for destroying
the unneeded information and the medium. Floppy disks (if you still have any!)
can be destroyed by splitting open the plastic casing, removing the soft disk
itself, popping out the metal hub, and then feeding the soft disk without that
metal center into a household paper shredder.
Hard disk drives, Solid State Drives, and USB flash drives
When
you are looking to get rid of an old computer (or other device with a hard
drive) that you perhaps don’t use anymore, you should properly clean your data
off the device before disposing of it or selling/donating it. You will want to
ensure you properly move those family photos, important records, and everything
else you want to keep onto a newer device or a disk/thumb drive before
beginning the process of cleaning the data off. Next, you will want to either
physically destroy the drive or perform the proper process of overwriting by using
a utility to permanently erase the data. For physical destruction of drives you should utilize a paid service to properly destroy the device. For overwriting or permanent erasure of data,
there are many software utilities available to perform these operations, some
of which may be included with your operating system. It is important to
follow this guidance because simply moving files to the recycle bin or hitting
delete doesn’t permanently delete them, as the information can be easily recovered
if that’s all that has been done! This means your sensitive data is still
possibly available to a malicious actor.
Smartphones, Tablets, Gaming Consoles, and other devices
Perform
a “hard reset” which will bring the device back to factory settings and remove
your data securely. Always ensure no accounts are permanently logged in on the
device. You can consult the maker of the device when seeking guidance on how to
locate this setting or utility for that particular make and model.
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