I'm truly amazed at the latest UK data blunder where a second hand server was sold on eBay containing over a million banking records.
What is it with the UK and computer records? The Guardian has a list of NINE major blunders in the last twelve month.
Now it is possible that UK corporations are a bit more open about the problem than their overseas counterparts, but I somehow doubt it.
The big lesson from this particular debacle is that you have to wipe your computers before selling them on eBay or giving them away to your friends.
One big trap is returning computers to leasing companies as Paul McCartney found a few years back. You need to totally wipe any important data before returning the computer to the bank or finance company.
A free program I like for doing this is the Heidi Eraser program. It's a relatively easy to use tool that wipes free space on the drive or the entire drive should you so desire.
We have instructions on using it on our IT Queries website.
If this is too hard, then we have our own service where a tech can do this for. Most other IT services companies can do it too.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Commander appoints administrators
On my Australian Technology Blog I commented about the problems of Commander Communications last January. I thought they were doomed at the time and said so.
Today they appointed official receivers for the business.
In the last month we've seen the collapse of the Bill Express empire as well which has been well documented in Mark Fletcher's Newsagency Blog.
The sad thing is both of these businesses had great propositions; Bill Express' network of newsagents and Commander's taking over of the old Telstra small business systems were fantastic assets.
I suspect in both cases the problem was easy money. While the tide was rising bad managers could make bad decisions and get away with it because there were always willing lenders and investors to cover the costs of those mistakes.
Now the tide is running out and money is tighter we see those business suffering.
In the tech sector, companies like Commander and Bill Express are the just the beginning. There's a lot more that are going to be found wanting.
The good managers should be looking at their costs and funding right now. If their business units are not making a profit then it's time to ask some serious questions.
Today they appointed official receivers for the business.
In the last month we've seen the collapse of the Bill Express empire as well which has been well documented in Mark Fletcher's Newsagency Blog.
The sad thing is both of these businesses had great propositions; Bill Express' network of newsagents and Commander's taking over of the old Telstra small business systems were fantastic assets.
I suspect in both cases the problem was easy money. While the tide was rising bad managers could make bad decisions and get away with it because there were always willing lenders and investors to cover the costs of those mistakes.
Now the tide is running out and money is tighter we see those business suffering.
In the tech sector, companies like Commander and Bill Express are the just the beginning. There's a lot more that are going to be found wanting.
The good managers should be looking at their costs and funding right now. If their business units are not making a profit then it's time to ask some serious questions.
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