There is wide range of software available to help improve the security of your computer. Probably the most important is a quality anti-virus and anti-spyware solution.
McAfee Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware is an award-winning software provided by UC for free to faculty, staff, and students. If you do not already have it installed, please go get it now.
PGP Whole Disk Encryption (WDE) seamlessly provides encryption protection with virtually no performance impact to your computer. Free for Faculty and Staff.
Do you need to complete destroy an electronic file? Deleting is not enough.
Donating or returning a leased computer/server/copier/printer with a hard disk that still contains scientific databases, sensitive personnel information, or perhaps medical records is a security risk. To avoid the potential legal complications the may arise from improperly protected data, the UCIT Office of Information Security (OIS) is recommending that all computers with hard disks must be sanitized before they are sent to surplus, transferred, or donated.
Sanitization is the process of destroying a file or an entire hard drive in a secure manner using a “wipeout” or “wipe” utility, thus removing any trace of files or file remnants so no traces of files, file fragments, or folders can be recovered. Sanitization of computer systems is important. Even though a delete or a format has been performed, the information on that drive is still accessible. Sanitation should always be done especially if a computer is donated, returned to the manufacturer, or given to another party or organization.
Personnel from the OIS are available for advice on sanitizing different media types including desktop and laptop hard drives and removable drives such as floppy and zip disks.
Before any UC-owned or managed hard disk, media, or system containing a hard disk is transferred, sent to surplus, returned after expiration of lease, or donated, it should be sanitized by reformatting the hard drive in a secure manner or by using an approved wipeout/wipe utility. Diskettes and other magnetic storage media that contain any UC data or UC licensed software must be sanitized when they are no longer needed. Portable media may be reused after overwriting or degaussing or they may be destroyed. Simply deleting a file is not sufficient to prevent someone from undeleting the file later.
The recommended software for UC Staff and Faculty is to use PGP Shred. For more information, contact the OIS at infosec@uc.edu.
Contact the Office of Asset Management regarding proper disposal of assets.