Safe disposal
Paper documents and other media that you dispose of may contain a large quantity of personal information. This information could be retrieved for malicious purposes if the necessary precautions are not taken at the time of their disposal.
Caution
A fraudster may:
- Practise dumpster diving, which consists of rummaging through garbage containers to find personal information to commit identity theft
How can you protect yourself?
When the information has reached the end of its useful life, it is important to safely destroy it before disposing the media. It is generally not recommended to simply throw the media in the garbage. The method to be used will depend on the media type used and the sensitivity of the information found on it.
- For paper documents:
- The method generally used is shredding
- There are several types of shredders that provide different levels of confidentiality, the size of the resulting fragments being the aspect that distinguishes them. The smaller the fragments, the more difficult it will be for someone to piece together the original document
- Choose a device that has a cross-cut
- For reusable digital media, such as flash-memory cards, USB keys or your computer's hard disk:
- It is not enough to simply delete files and empty the trash. In fact, a deleted file usually remains on the media for some time after its deletion and it is possible to retrieve it
- It is recommended to use software that performs secure deletions, which will write random information in the spot where the deleted file was found. There is a variety of open source and commercial software available for this purpose
- For non-reusable digital media, such as CDs and DVDs, but also for digital media such as flash-memory cards, USB keys and hard disks that will no longer be used because they are defective or outdated:
- A fragmentary disposal method must be used
- Most paper shredders can also destroy CDs and DVDs
- For other types of digital media, specialized equipment is usually required. This type of equipment is generally not readily available. It is therefore recommended to use various tools to dismantle or destroy the media.
