· Encrypt
Your Sensitive Data in Portable Files: Data encryption is becoming
ever-more important, but fortunately the tools to encrypt your data are easier
to come by. Desktop operating systems ship with native encryption tools,
enabling you to make your most sensitive data unreadable to thieves.
· Remember
to Securely Delete Sensitive Files: Deleting files you don’t
want removes them from the operating system, but doesn’t remove them from your
hard disk drive. Under standard deletion, the section of the hard disk drive
the data is stored on is marked as being available, meaning that it can still
be recovered. To confirm that the data is genuinely deleted, you’ll need to
employ a third party utility that will overwrite the storage again and again
until the data can no longer be retrieved.
· Disable
File and Media Sharing: Disabling file and media sharing
“disappears” your data to prying eyes, whether people who are authorized to be
on your network or those that have managed to gain access either as guests or
intruders.
