Race driver blackmail "plot" highlights data dangers
A high-profile alleged blackmail plot involving Britain’s top racing driver Lewis Hamilton has dramatically highlighted the wisdom behind a leading IT solutions’ company’s campaign to reduce data theft.
A man was arrested in Germany recently by police investigating a plot to extort £8,000. Pictures and private data such as bank details had been obtained from the hard drive of a secondhand computer formerly owned by Hamilton’s friend and fellow Formula 1 colleague Adrian Sutil.
The revelation demonstrates the crucial need behind EOL’s campaign to show people how they can act to stamp out data theft. The leading UK IT recycling company – based at Maldon in Essex – has compiled a guide aimed at cutting the incidence of such theft in both corporate and private life – and is downloadable free from EOL’s website – www.eolitservices.co.uk .
The incidence of data getting into the public domain because it is not destroyed correctly when computers become redundant affects millions of people worldwide and costs Britons millions of pounds each year.
EOL’s Managing Director Richard Parker said: “The case in Germany is a high-profile example of what we have been saying for some time now – that the best way to protect privacy is to remove data from hard drives in a professional way. This sort of crime could be almost a thing of the past if redundant IT equipment such as computers went through a thorough erasure process.”
“The software is widely available and, for businesses, data erasure through experts such as EOL is not expensive. In fact we can save companies millions by totally removing the threat of data theft.”
EOL’s 16-page e-book, “Guide to Computer Data Destruction”, explains in easy-to-understand and non-technical terms how information can be comprehensively erased to avoid the unscrupulous retrieving data from discarded hard drives.
Mr. Parker added: “It is vitally important to put sensitive corporate and personal information beyond the reach of those who will use it illegally and for gain. Our guide highlights the risks people take in not erasing data as securely as we do as part of the many services we offer. 99% security is no security at all.”
Since 1997 EOL has built an excellent reputation with major global companies such as banks, financial institutions and insurance companies for whom security is absolutely vital.
EOL continues to erase clients’ data to the highest level – CESG HMG Infosec Standard No 5 (enhanced). This is also the level used to wipe top-secret Government and NATO data from hard drives.
