30% of UK companies not wiping data from discarded computers

8 July 2007 17:38 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Recent research carried out on behalf of computer manufacturer Lenovo, has revealed that as many as 30% of UK companies with more than 250 employees may have left data on PCs when they were sent for disposal or recycling.

As well as the amount of discarded PCs that get disposed of with data on them, the research revealed that half of organisations with 250 or more staff allow employees
to save any file to their hard drive.

The results confirm that reports of sensitive data being left on old PCs are set to persist as companies continue to expose themselves to the potential risks of data getting into the wrong hands.

Many companies erroneously think that formatting a hard disk removes and destroys its data. In fact this data, which can be highly confidential, can still be retrieved from these systems.

With most operating systems, files that are deleted are not necessarily erased.

After these worrying stats, Lenovo wants IT managers to know that it provides technology experts with the tools to remove confidential information on a disk drive fast, simply and irretrievably.

Lenovo's Secure Data Disposal is available for download free on all Lenovo notebooks and desktop PCs and can easily be installed by users or network managers.

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