Many people assume that erasing data from a hard drive deletes it forever. However, unless you fully format a hard drive or external drive, these files remain in some form. A criminal doesn’t have to have a lot of hacking experience to get at these files and do an enormous amount of damage in a matter of minutes.

Once upon a time, businesses could keep up with shredding tasks and dispose of the remains in the dumpsters behind their buildings without giving security a second thought.