LAYTON, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Criminals can get your personal information in under five seconds. Computer hard drives are often filled with bank account, social security and telephone numbers. Even if you throw the information in your computer's trash bin it's still available to cyber thieves.
Several people recycled their old computers at the SBK free recycle event at Layton Hills Mall. The company gaurentees to erase or destroy all hard drive information. Many customers don't know about this policy. ABC 4 asked if they even thought about erasing their hard drives before getting rid of them. "Initially I didn't, but now it does have me thinking a little bit," said Brian Twitchell who just dropped off a desk top computer.
Computer expert and PC Laptops CEO Dan Young says anyone can become a victim if their hard drive falls into the wrong hands. "It's fairly quick and easy to extract information off a hard drive. It simply just needs to be hooked up to another computer and the extraction can begin," said Young. He warns computer owners to be careful because some computers have two hard drives.
Thieves sift through trash bins at computer stores and homes looking for hard drives. If they find one with information they could be rewarded with thousands of dollars all while ruining the victim's credit and often their reputation. "If I were to do it again I would take a few more precautions, maybe erase some stuff off it before I brought it over," said Twitchell.
Young says there computer owners have at least three options to remove information for hard drives. They are listed below.
1) Smash the hard drive with a hammer until it's crushed into little pieces.
2) Buy software to erase hard drive information.
3) Put your hard drive into a caddy and use it to back-up your personal information.
Young says his company will erase hard drive information at a discount if you mention this story on ABC 4.
