The Center for Internet Security issued a reminder about properly disposing of old data and devices. CIS warns that failing to properly manage devices, online accounts, cloud storage and physical storage can lead to an unintentional disclosure of sensitive information.
CIS suggests cleaning up old social media accounts by removing personal information like address and birthdate. For active accounts, minimize the amount of information displayed. Old shopping and rewards accounts should be closed, or at least payment information removed. Old CDs, DVDs and other hard media can be shredded while hard drives and flash drives should be wiped before destroyed.
When smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles are no longer being used, perform a hard reset on to restore them to factory settings. Also make sure no accounts are permanently logged onto the device.
Managing old accounts and devices is an important part of keeping data secure.