Computer Technical Support

by Russ Bellew · phone 954 873-4695

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You should care for your data as you'd care for your child.
 
 
 
 
Data ages and often loses value to an enterprise as it ages. During each phase of data's lifespan, you must guard it, always ensuring that it doesn't leak into the wrong hands, while making it easily available to your own personnel. It is, after all, the lifeblood of modern businesses.
 
Finally, when you scrap data, you must destroy it so that others can't "dumpster dive" and retrieve it after you thought that you'd scrapped it.
 
If you run a business, it must conform to federal laws that protect the privacy of your customers and trading partners:
  • The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
  • The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA)
  • The Internal Revenue Service defines how long records must be kept
 

 
Protecting viable data

Protecting your enterprise's data may take many forms:
  • Data encryption
  • Firewalls
  • Hierarchical data access privileges for users. Grant access based upon need:
    • Highest privilege: full create / edit / delete privilege
    • Normal privilege: limited field editing
    • Lowest privilege: read only

 

 

Data Destruction

When you purge data from your business systems, you must ensure that the data are indeed irretrievable:
 
  • Paper: microshred or burn reports
  • Diskettes: Cut with scissors
  • CDs and DVDs: Physically break into 3 or more fragments
  • Hard drives: Drill multiple holes through the entire drive

 

When scrapping routers and modems, delete their non-volatile memories, so that IP addresses, routing tables, and administrator names and passwords no longer reside within their CMOS chips.

The FACTA Disposal rule extends to employers, landlords, automobile dealers, private investigators, debt collectors, and any individual who obtains credit reports on prospective contractors, such as nannies.