I had an employee provide a resignation before I was on site. The employee then unplugged a desktop computer and left the premises with it. The computer contained pricing data, customer data, email communications, login credentials to several important websites, login info to vendor websites.

I filed a police report and the police were able to recover the computer, however the data on the machine was wiped or the drive was replaced.

What should I do?

    • 808makeitgreat@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Irrelevant to the issue of what to do with the employee. He could use what he took to start a competitive firm. But yes, I believe I have the ability to recreate what was lost.

      • SpagNMeatball@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        Tech advice- data is never actually deleted on a hard drive unless they use a special data wiping software. There is a table that tracks the location of files and deleting just removes the reference to the location. There are data recovery firms that can get all the data back if you need it, but they can be expensive. Also if you send it in and they are asking you to pay, they already have the data recovered.

        • XTJ7@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          They don’t need special tools, even a single slow format means all regular recovery software is useless and you need data recovery experts. Special tools overwrite multiple times with random data, making it pretty much impossible to recover data even for professionals.

          What you are saying is true for quick format only.

          • lost_in_life_34@alien.topBEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            there are ways

            ​

            Back in the 90’s when I was in the military the NSA made up a bunch of rules for half a dozen slow complete formats or physically destroy the HD platters with a wire brush.

            • XTJ7@alien.topBEnglish
              1·
              10 months ago

              Yes, because someone with the skills and (physical) tools can still access data on a drive after a slow format. As I also mentioned. But your 08/15 recovery software wont be able to do anything with a slow formatted drive.

        • matthewstinar@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I don’t know what this ex-employee did, whether they merely deleted files, performed a quick format, or wrote over the data. In addition to the possibility of wiping the entire drive, there are also secure delete utilities that wipe individual files, but It’s quite possible they aren’t sophisticated and the data is all still there if a person knows how to find it.

          When I perform data destruction for clients, I usually use the drive’s built in secure erase feature because it’s the fastest way to wipe a drive and also ensures that spare sectors get erased as well.