Recent security breaches in the public sector are simply higher profile repeats of similar breaches within the private sector that have surfaced with increased regularity. Companies and organisations need to establish and enforce policies when an employee upgrades to a new machine or leaves the company.

If you intend to reuse any computers, all traces of applications and information should be removed from the hard drive inside. A quick format, system restore or windows deletion does not securely erase the information. The only guaranteed method is to degauss the hard drive, which requires specialist hardware. Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field.