Minimize Security Risks when Disposing of Hardware

We all know that our devices don’t last forever. Even if things are still working, performance problems, lacking functionality, or ending support can be a reason to replace a device.

Hopefully, you will already format the drivers before you dispose of them for computers. Low-level formatting, or wiping this disk is the best solution. There are plenty of tools that completely wipe the data off a disk. Disk Wipe is an example of such a tool.

Even for mobile phones, most people know that a factory reset and steps to clear any previous settings and software are necessary steps before getting rid of it.

But did you ever consider your other devices? A Wi-Fi router, or even a network printer? A lot of modern devices, especially with wireless network access, store information that can be quite useful to others. Network settings can contain access information, which in the wrong hands, can be used to access your network.

Canon even recently published a warning that information stored on their Inkjet printers could be accessible, even after a standard initialization process. They provided instructions on how to address the issue and which steps to use to safely provide those printers to others.

So, make sure you take such steps for all hardware devices connected to your network. Before disposing of them, log in and delete all data or settings that are specific to your network. If possible, do a factory reset. The hardware manual will provide instructions on how to do this. If you lost your manual (which can happen for older devices), most can be found online these days in a PDF or other format.

Most routers will have a hardware reset button that needs to be pressed with the end of a paperclip (or similar pointy object). This will factory reset the device.