When wiping a system does not actually wipe the system – this is how data creeps out of organisations

So you are going to upgrade your computers – and what do you do with the old ones? What are your options?

• Pass the machine onto a junior in the organisation
• Donate the machine to good cause
• Sell or give it away to a member of staff or to someone outside your organisation
• Recycle it by dropping it off with the people at the Recycling Centre

This is quite a common occurrence in organisations – Octagon has done this many times for clients – and they wipe the machines, using some specialist data wiping tools to make sure they are clean and no data will go astray.

Or you could use the recovery options that are Windows 10 and Windows 11, which is supposed to wipe the drive and keep you information secure – or does it…

Windows data-wiping bug can leave some user data unencrypted and accessible | Ars Technica

In any of the above scenarios there is the possibility that if data is left on the computer storage drive, that unauthorised people could access it. So making sure that there is no possibility of recoverable data being on the system – get it wiped professionally. So that costs – better that, then the ICO fining you for a GDPR violation and the loss of business reputation that could lead to.

Make sure you do not loose control of your information through carelessness.