76 million Veteran records in Question

The inspector general of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is investigating a potential data breach involving the sensitive data of 76 million military veterans, reports Wired. The records were contained on a failed hard drive that was returned to a contractor for repair without first being sanitized, the report states. The contractor passed along the drive, which was beyond repair, to a recycling firm. The NARA IT manager who reported the incident to the inspector general told Wired: "This is the single largest release of personally identifiable information by the government ever." NARA says it does not believe there was a breach of PII. Full Story

Ladies and gentlemen, let me make this as clear as a bell for you. There is only ONE way to insure that a hard drive is safe to recycle. Do not listen to any other advice!

There is only ONE certain way to render a drive of any kind useless to data thieves. DRIVE A BIG NAIL THROUGH THE DISK. If it is a flash drive smash it with a hammer, smash it good. Never recycle a laptop, photo copy machine, server, desk top computer, fax machine, unless you, the user, render the drives useless. Never leave it to anyone else to do.