Warning - be careful what you throw out...

[Pollypops]

This morning my partners interupted a group of men (not bin men!) going through the rubbish in our development's communal bin stores.

Later on he noticed that all the bin store doors for the next door developemt were swinging wide open...

Just want to remind people to be careful what they throw out and make sure confidential things are shreaded.

[harperama]

I suspect something similar has happened to my partner who just received a letter from sports direct in peckham chasing up money from an 'incident' that happened in store last month... She was abroad at the time but it seems that the perpetrator gave my partners name and address. Definitely be careful what you throw away!

[pinecone]

Also, please be careful of throwing out old computers, which may contain (among much else) banking information somewhere on their hard discs. If you need advice on scrubbing your computer clean please PM me.

[Traceytra]

Wow, I guess its easy to get complacent - noted thanks. These criminals are so audacious :(

[Penguin68]

If you are actually throwing out -to trash - (as opposed to recyling for someone else's use) old computers take out the hard drive and actually smash it to bits (with a hammer) after running any wipe programs - it is possible to recontruct smahed Winchester discs, but you need a government strength lab to do it and get useable data from it. Hard drives are wiped by over-writing them - but as all which is actually stored anyway are '0's and '1's there is a chance you will over-write a '0' with another '0' - that's why you are meant to over-write multiple times - I think 7 is the standard.

[lane lover]

And make sure you look both ways before you cross the street!

I cant believe people still throw out confidential documents! Shred them - use a security bin! FFS

Ive said it once, and I will say it again. You cant teach common sense!

[Tr?]

Lane lover, you should write a self-help book bro, you've got life sorted haven't you?

[tallulah71]

Tre - :)

[GinaG3]

I've seen more than once men going through the bins on Lordship Lane estate. Because the bins are stored in gated high wall bin cupboards you wouldn't necessarily know they are in there doing so. They carry big backpacks to fill up with whatever they find!

[Loz]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you are actually throwing out -to trash - (as

> opposed to recyling for someone else's use) old

> computers take out the hard drive and actually

> smash it to bits (with a hammer) after running any

> wipe programs - it is possible to recontruct

> smahed Winchester discs, but you need a government

> strength lab to do it and get useable data from

> it. Hard drives are wiped by over-writing them -

> but as all which is actually stored anyway are

> '0's and '1's there is a chance you will

> over-write a '0' with another '0' - that's why you

> are meant to over-write multiple times - I think 7

> is the standard.

Unless you are worried about the NSA or MI5 coming after you then that's probably overkill - we're talking common or garden bad guys here who want the easy information. A program like http://www.diskwipe.org/ will do the job.