I just bought a used computer with sensitive data on the HD

murmsk · Post by **murmsk** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 6:32 am

I just bought a used computer off of E-Bay which was advertised as having a "wiped clean hard drive". Much to my suprise not only did it still have the system .... practice works and quicken were there too!!!!!!!

I am sure the doc trusted his IT guy and it probably was an oversite but the doc would have been the one who would have been at fault if pt info had been compromised!

I have contacted the doc and wiped the disk clean.

There is a lesson here. I am not sure it is ever a good idea to have a HD leave the office that has had sensitive data on it. The $50 you receive for an old computer isn't worth the risk.

steve

wjstarck · Post by **wjstarck** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:52 am

Yikes, that's scary.

My policy is to remove and physically destroy the hard drives, period end of sentence.

Hard drives are so relatively inexpensive now that it hasn't been a major issue for anyone that has wanted to give one of our old PCs a good home.

Cheers,

Bill Starck, DDS