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Identity Theft From Old Computers

by By Mike Ungerman—Central Florida Compputer Society, www.cfcs.org - June 02, 2001 at 15:22:51:

One source of identity theft is old computers and hard drives that are sold, donated, stolen or otherwise discarded. The original owner often does not completely remove their personal data from hard disk storage prior to sale/donation/disposal. Identy thiefs have identified old computers as desorab;e targets.

A professional identy thief can even retreive data off a hard drive that has been reformatted. If you are planning on getting rid of an old computer or hard drive, it is recommended that you purchase a product which will guarantee removal of selected data from the hard drive. The best approach is to completely wipe out all data with this kind of product and then reformat the hard drive. Remember, anything you leave behind on an old computer can usually be obtained by a professional.



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