What are some of the security problems related to improperly recycled equipment?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Because of the difficulty in disposing older computers, many organizations and individuals recycle older computers, wireless access points, and other equipment by giving them to schools or charities, or by selling them online.However, information that should have been deleted from the equipment often is still available. For example, data stored on hard drives may still be available on recycled computers. This is because with many operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, simply deleting a file (and even emptying the Recycle Bin folder) does not necessarily make the information irretrievable. When that file is deleted, only the name is removed from the table; as more files are saved, the disk space that was used by the first file can be reclaimed and used for other files. Therefore, deleting a file means that the filename is removed from the table but the information itself remains on the hard drive until it is overwritten by new files. Data then can be retrieved from a hard drive by an attacker even after its files have been deleted. In addition, wireless access points may contain a password that is used for all APs across the network, or a computer may still have the WEP key installed.Attackers who can secure this information from recycled equipment can then use it to break into functioning WLANs.