<aside> <img src="/icons/shower_gray.svg" alt="/icons/shower_gray.svg" width="40px" /> The NIST Special Publication 800-88 (Guidelines for Media Sanitization) provides guidance on asset disposal and decommissioning

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Sanitization

• Thorough process to make data inaccessible and irretrievable from storage medium using tradition forensic methods
• Applies to various storage media

Methods include:

Overwriting

• Replacing the existing data on a storage device with random bits of information to ensure that the original data is obscured
• Repeated several times to reduce any chance of the original data being recovered
• Overwriting can use a single pass, 7 passes, or 35 passes

Degaussing

• Utilizes a machine called a degausser to produce a strong magnetic field that can disrupt magnetic domains on storage devices like hard drives or tapes
• Renders data on the storage medium unreadable and irretrievable
• Permanent erasure of data but makes the device unusable
• After degaussing, a device can no longer be used to store data

Secure Erase

• Deletes data and ensures it can’t be recovered
• Implemented in firmware level of storage devices
• Built-in erasure routine purges all data blocks
• Deprecated in favor of cryptographic erase

Cryptographic Erase (CE)