In situations requiring rapid evacuation (fire, flood, terrorist attacks, armed conflicts, etc.), the priority is the safety of people, but it is equally important to secure data that may be at risk of loss, theft or unauthorized access. In such cases, proper preparation and planning are crucial.

What to do in the event of an evacuation?

If it is not possible to transport data media outside the premises during the evacuation, it is necessary to ensure immediate data destruction to prevent its leakage. This is guaranteed by a degausser, which irreversibly deletes data from magnetic media within 5 seconds. An alternative solution (but not 100% guaranteeing complete destruction of data) is a data media shredder.
The advantage of portable devices (such as small degaussers or mobile shredders) is that they allow for quick destruction of data without the need to transport the media to a central location/headquarters.

What is worth knowing to secure data?

It is also worth remembering to systematically encrypt data and create backup copies in the cloud or on remote servers (this allows access to it from anywhere, even if the equipment in the primary location is destroyed or lost).

A well-thought-out data protection policy is also very important:

• Develop crisis procedures that include data protection.
• Create a list of media that must be destroyed or secured first.
• Train employees to quickly destroy or secure data.