Degaussers: a new device to kill data on your PC

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Pitney Bowes, a provider of mailstream and document management solutions, in association with Martin Yale GMBH, launched a data destruction device, Degaussers, in India that can delete the entire data from the hard disk of a computer.

The company has claimed that not a single bit of the data deleted using this device would be retrievable.

"We identified the gap that exists in the industry and developed this product. There are prevalent method like overwriting, secure erase and physical destruction method that are used for destroying data. But in all the cases there is the possibility of data recovery. In Degaussers we use magnetic technology to destroy data in the hard disk," said Erich Berthold, Regional Sales Head APAC, Martin Yale.

Berthold elaborated that there are magnetic tapes which store data in hard disk. Degaussers generate magnetic field of 9000 Oersteds which helps in erasing magnetic field present in the devices.

"The prevalent method for data destruction can take hours but high-end version of Degaussers can do it in scale of 10-15 seconds. Our entry-level Degaussers will be able to do it in a timeframe of 30 seconds," said Berthold.

Pitney Bowes will distribute the Intimus Degausser’s and Crushers from Martin Yale as well as provide accessories, spare parts and after-sales services of the same. The range is priced between Rs 7 lakh to 20 lakh.

The Intimus range of products will be targeted to the service sectors like Banking, Financial, Insurance, and Telecom besides governments where data security is a critical part of the data management process.

Specifying the potential market for Degaussers, K.M. Nanaiah, managing director, Pitney Bowes India also cited the threat of the e-waste being generated in the country.

“Companies are mostly engaged in data securing and archiving. Simultaneously we see that a lot computers are annually disposed off. According to reports, close to 380,000 tonnes of e-waste was generated in India from discarded computers, televisions and mobile phones in 2007. This figure is expected to rise to 800,000 tonnes by 2012. Hence we have strong business case in India for destroying data in hard disk which are disposed off by companies,” said Nanaiah.

Nanaiah added that these devices can also be set up by an entrepreneur to provide services to the companies disposing off their data.