OPINION: Don’t accidentally give away private data

If you sell or give away a computer you have used in your business, take care!

Slashtdot has a post about an old computer that had been used for running POS software in a retail business, which was sold on eBay. Here’s what was found on that old computer: default passwords, a security flaw, and names, addresses, and social security numbers of employees of the terminal’s previous owner.

The safest way to get rid of a computer that you no longer need is to take a hammer to the hard drive or solid state storage. Smash it to bits. If you do sell it or give it away, format the drive first.

There is an interesting series of comments that were posted on Australian Newsagency Blog after I published this post.