We fantasized about taking the hard disks out into an open field and smashing them with a hammer, setting them on fire and toasting marshmallows over the blaze. It sounds like a good team-building exercise. But we're in the middle of summertime heat, and the local fire department probably wouldn't appreciate our electronics bonfire.

Back to reality. We'll need to write a policy and procedure, as well as acquire the software we'll need for effective data deletion. Sysinternals, a part of Winternals, which was recently acquired by Microsoft, provides a free, DOD-compliant secure-delete program called SDelete that should do the job. After we remove the data, we can incinerate, shred and pulverize the hardware or just donate the drives to a nonprofit organization.

I think the important thing is to realize that data is precious and must be handled properly. But even if we don't recognize that fact, we're all increasingly subject to state and federal statutes that mean we have to take data disposal seriously. We just can't ignore the problem anymore.

What do you think?

This week's journal is written by a real security manager, "C.J. Kelly," whose name and employer have been disguised for obvious reasons. Contact her at mscjkelly@yahoo.com or join the discussions in our security blogs: computerworld.com/blogs/security