Computers offer gateway to crime

11:35am Wednesday 10th January 2007

COMPANIES are being warned to thoroughly clean the hard drives on their discarded computers when upgrading to avoid becoming the victims of fraud.

Research by Sainsbury's Bank has found that up to a third of old computers contain information on their hard drives which could be used by criminals.

Grant Hume, technical director of IT specialists GHS, of Devizes Road, Old Town, said: "Businesses should make sure that information is properly stripped from old machines before they are discarded. Simply deleting the files is not enough. Sophisticated computer hackers would still be able to find any information stored on the machine".

The research also shows that between August and October 2006 around 1.4m computers were discarded without any attempt to wipe or destroy their hard drives.

"Over a period of time you can end up storing a great deal of personal information on your computer," said Grant.

"It makes sense to wipe clean or destroy the drive before you throw it away. Overwrite unwanted data by running hard drive wiping software."

The Swindon-based British Computer Society is also encouraging those who are upgrading their PCs to give thought to environmental impact.

January is a seasonal peak time for consumer PC purchases and with the launch of Microsoft Windows Vista due this month and a voucher programme in place, sales volumes could be even higher.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, BCS President, said: "A new computer can be a great present, but not when it comes at unacceptable cost to the environment.

"PCs contain many toxic components, so if they end up in a landfill we are creating a real problem for the future.

"It can be really easy to pass on the old machine to be reused, and if it's beyond use, to recycle it."

Next year European waste electrical and electronic equipment legislation will come into effect in the UK.

"This will affect how businesses and consumers dispose of PC equipment.

However, consumers can help reduce the amount of electronic and electrical waste going into landfills.

For more information contact www.bcs.org.