There are news that the important data of many companies is unknowingly "leaking" out of data centers, the data is related to the Patient health analysis, social security numbers, bank account numbers and internal auditing procedures. This leaking trend is the company’s mistake of not disposing the used data storage products after using them. Selling of used computer tape cartridges to so called "recertifiers" is a practice going on. Thus Corporate America is facing a dangerous problem of data security and financial risks due to improper destruction of used data storage items.

This usually occurs when data storage managers, who face financial problems, sell or give tape cartridges which contain company data to a reseller who claims to erase the data in it. It is often "recertified" without totally erasing the data then sells them back to the market which usually contains confidential company and customer data.

Imation has come to know thought its testing that many tape cartridges, especially those with magnetic servo tracks, cannot be totally erased. Only some amount of data can be wiped off in today's high-capacity cartridges which are exposed for the misuse. Hundreds of gigabytes of data can be stored in a typical tape cartridge. It is estimated that one million cartridges are "recertified" each year.

The practice of reselling used tape came into existence to get rid of budget constraints, but the costs involved in protecting the data is far outweigh and it is growing each year. It is said that the average cost to companies per lost customer record as a result of data breach is $182, this would turn huge when thousands of individual records that may remain on the data storage products which are not destroyed properly.

More than 245 million personal records have been exposed as a result of data breaches in the last three years, which is according to the Privacy