T 0.24 Destruction of Devices or Storage Media

External and also internal perpetrators can, for different reasons (revenge, malice, frustration), try to destroy equipment, accessories, documents and other data storage media (e.g. DVDs, USB sticks) or similar media. The destruction of data storage media or IT systems can result in significant downtimes for business processes.

Due to negligence, improper use and also by untrained handling, destruction of devices and data storage media may occur which seriously impairs the operation of IT systems.

There is also a risk that, along with destruction, important information will be lost, which cannot be reconstructed at all or only with great effort.

Examples:

• In a company an internal perpetrator used his knowledge about an important server being sensitive to too high operating temperatures and blocked the ventilation slits for the power supply fan using an object hidden behind the server. Two days later, the hard drive in the server suffered a temperature-caused defect, and the server was down for several days.
• An employee was upset about the repeated crashes of his system so much that he let out his anger on his workstation. Here, as the computer was being kicked, the hard drive was so badly damaged that it was useless. The data stored there could only be partially reconstructed from a backup made the previous day.
• Moisture ingressing into an IT system, due to knocked-over coffee cups or watering the flowers can cause short circuits.