How to delete data properly? Sanitisation is the process of treating data held on storage media to reduce the likelihood of retrieval and reconstruction to an acceptable level.

In what cases is sanitization of data media necessary?

Sanitization is necessary if:

• you need to repair the equipment with the help of third parties. Removal of data from the storage media is necessary if it is sent, for example, to external companies in order to repair them.
• you sell a device that contains data.
• you give the previously used equipment (e.g. laptop, mobile phone) to a new employee.
• you hand over data carriers for disposal. Remember! Before the data carriers are disposed of, the data stored on them can be recovered!

The risks of not sanitising

If the data is not properly removed, it can fall into the wrong hands. Data may be used by competitors or used to commit fraud or identity theft. Such a situation may have legal, image and financial consequences.

How to delete data from the carrier?

It depends on the type of media. In the case of magnetic carriers, the method recommended by the NSA to delete data is to degauss them using degausser. The whole process is extremely short, the medium cannot be reused. The degaussed hard disk or magnetic tape can then be destroyed and disposed of. In the case of flash media, the fastest way is to physically destroy it. The better we do it, the less possibility of data recovery. Therefore, when choosing equipment for the physical destruction of carriers, it is worth checking what safety standards it meets.

BE AWARE – CHOOSE WISELY

See more:
Media destruction and data destruction. What does it mean?
Degausser – what are its advantages?