Information diving, also called "trashing" or garbology, is the practice of recovering confidential or secret data from discarded material, such as hard drives and papers. In the UK, information diving has been referred to as "binology". [1] [2] Protecting against information diving is part of physical information security.
People may attempt to recover information from discarded hard drives and other data storage elements in discarded computers. Those in charge of discarding computers may neglect to erase the hard drive. In the early 2000s, two MIT graduate students purchased secondhand hard drives and were able to obtain credit credit card information and tax return data. [3] [4]
Files, letters, memos, photographs, IDs, passwords, credit cards, and more can be found in dumpsters. Many people do not consider that sensitive information on items they discarded may be recovered. Such information, when recovered, is sometimes usable for fraudulent purposes, such as identity theft. This method of dumpster diving is also sometimes used by attorneys or their agents when seeking to enforce court-ordered money judgments: the judgment debtor's trash may contain information about assets that can then be more-readily located for levying. [5]
In the 1970s and 1980s, phone phreaks and computer hackers used this technique to find useful information, including printed manuals and design records. For example, in the early 1970s, Jerry Neil Schneider discovered some discarded manuals for a telephone system ordering/shipping system and was able to build a business selling 'surplus' gear ordered from the telephone company as though it was for an internal company department.
When businesses became more aware of the need for increased security in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it became more common to use paper shredders on sensitive documents before disposing of them.
Dumpster diving is practiced by "watchdog" organizations seeking information on groups they are investigating. The Trinity Foundation successfully used this technique to report on the activities of televangelist Robert Tilton and was also able to obtain information on Benny Hinn.