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JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT POLICY AND PRACTICE
A Study of Hard Drive Forensics on Consumers’ PCs:
Data Recovery and Exploitation
Author(s): B. Dawn Medlin, Joseph A. Cazier
Citation: B. Dawn Medlin, Joseph A. Cazier, (2010) "A Study of Hard Drive Forensics on Consumers’ PCs: Data Recovery and Exploitation," Journal of Management Policy and Practice, Vol. 12, Iss. 1, pp. 27 - 35
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
One of the first actions to take when getting rid of an old personal computer is to remove all of the files
that contain identifying and personal information. Individuals can be surprisingly negligent in this effort.
Many individuals may also believe that by simply moving their files to the recycle bin and then emptying
that bin that all of their programs and files are permanently erased. If personal information is not totally
deleted, acts of identity theft can easily occur. Our research study identified the types of information
found and/or recovered from hard disk drives on computers that have been donated to charity, sold
second-hand, or otherwise donated to other organizations for reuse. Of the fifty-five hard drives studied
approximately 300,000 files contained identifiable information. Results showed the need for further
training in relation to total file erasure from a hard drive as well as the negative results such as identity
theft that can occur due to this lack of training or knowledge..
