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<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)