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General discussion

How much do you trust your PC's data with your technician?

May 1, 2015 10:30AM PDT

Discussion is locked

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You can't trust someone you don't know
May 1, 2015 11:03AM PDT

I've been in IT since the last century and run into technicians that run the gambit from I wouldn't let them touch my computer to full faith. There are plenty of technicians out that there that will make a copy of all of your music, movies, and pictures. Does this mean that they will do anything with them, probably not, but they might.

But going beyond trust a lot of services have somewhere in their service contract that they are not responsible for data. Part of this is that it is a lot easier to reload an infected machine rather than taking the time to attempt to clean it. I've know a lot of users who lost all of their data because the machine was restored to the factory defaults at the depot.

I worked for companies where drives with data were never shipped. A new drive would be purchased and installed to send the machine out for repair.

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Going by reports, some firms do a routine scan
May 1, 2015 7:00PM PDT

Supposedly the most sensitive files were password protected? Not that it will withstand a brute-force attempt, but it will thwart casual curiosity.

Perhaps a dozen years ago now, a large retailer routinely scanned the harddisk of each computer "to ensure there were no gremlins lurking" - as their service personnel called it. At some point they also included a scan which reportedly identified photos with a relatively large proportion of skin tone. They then did a visual inspection of those photos, and reported suspicious images to the police. The practice came into the open when they prosecuted a grandparent who kept some pics of a grandchild; the grandparent was cleared in court, but only after after bringing the grandchild to court, and the court satisfying themselves that there was a fair resemblance.

There are also reports of 'security services' intercepting intra-company mail from companies : this was reported some years ago concerning several German and French industrial companies.

Given that a computer with Windows XP will be somewhat ancient, and that the original poster already has a new computer I'd be tempted - depending on the level of sensitivity of the content - to retire the old computer.

There are occasional reports of harddisks from scrapped computers being sold on the second hand market, with data recoverable. Therefore the following suggestion :

When retiring the computer one should give thought to booting from a live Linux USB drive, copying the sensitive files, then overwriting the free space so that casually browsing technicians can not gain access to files.

And if you decide to scrap the computer, consider removing the harddisk : it's not that difficult, you do not need to be concerned about damage to the circuitry, and this allows you to keep the disk somewhere under your control till the documents are no longer sensitive : business quotes, contracts and reports loose their value to competitors in just a few years.

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Once it's out of your hands, it's at your own risk..
May 2, 2015 1:54AM PDT

You cannot trust anyone 100%, not just with a computer, but with any of your possessions, once it leaves your hands and your home. You have to operate under blind faith that they are trustworthy, and aren't going to snatch your sensitive data, or add their own data to it, screw around with things they have no business screwing around with, alter something you let them work on or repair, they could substitute it for something else, they could used someone else's old parts, and yadda yadda, whether it's a computer, a pair of shoes, a watch, jewelry, a book, your car, bicycle, literally anything you own. The less you know about someone handling or working on your possessions, unless you see them do it with your own eyes (if you want to stand / sit there that long and IF they even let you see what they're doing), if you have never done business with them before, or even if you have, then you hand it over to them at your own risk and peril. Sometimes you can't even trust members of your own family with your possessions. In any case, if you're handing over a computer for repair, get a written contract that spells out exactly what you've asked them to do, exactly how much it's going to cost, print out two copies, and you both sign it and keep one. Was it Spock who said "Trust is an interesting concept?".. something like that.. if you are capable of fixing it yourself, then fix it yourself. If you don't have the parts nor the expertise to fix it yourself, whatever it is, then if you have to contract someone else to do it, make sure that someone is someone you have worked with before.. a trusted friend who has the expertise that you lack.. but once something you own is out of your hands, it's out of your control.. it just all depends on using common sense..

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Technician
May 2, 2015 1:59AM PDT

Since I do my own builds and service, I'd say that I'd trust me.

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I don't even trust myself - that's why I back up everything
May 2, 2015 4:54AM PDT

If you don't back your system up often, sooner or later you'll be sorry. As Bob likes to say, "you only lose what you don't back up". Most repair shops I know of will tell you to back up your data before you bring your computer in for repair. If they don't tell you that, they're probably not trustworthy.

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WARNING: You MUST be prepared for this eventuality and here
May 2, 2015 6:00AM PDT

Unfortunately, as a working technician, I can promise you that there are service people who see your hard drive as a gold mine of "stuff" to be used or exploited or enjoyed just for their own amusement. Furthermore, if they happen to find certain items, they are bound by law in many areas, to report those items to police. You have absolutely NO GUARANTEE of privacy or security if you allow someone else access to your machine.
With this fact in mind, you must develop an approach to caring for your data that reflects your particular concerns about having your laundry aired in public if your electronic device fails. Personally, all of my stuff is encrypted and backed up to other devices so it matters not whether it is lost forever or recovered and viewed by someone other than myself.