When the time comes for your company to remove old equipment to make room for new technology, how certain are you that the data saved on old assets is properly destroyed?
When selecting a vendor to help you manage outdated assets, there’s 4 things you should look and ask for to safeguard your company’s information – and ensure your job is just as safe. Follow the tips and insights below when selecting a third-party vendor:
Ask about drive destruction
Drive shredding or destruction is one of the most critical components to guarantee data is safely destroyed. You may discover that some e-recyclers drill holes through the devices to make drives inaccessible; however, while difficult, there are ways to retrieve data off drilled devices, making this method ineffective and dangerous.
Dig into their drive purging process
Drive purging, or degaussing, is an important step for companies that want their data eliminated before it leaves their facility – or those who want an extra layer of assurance. As mentioned earlier, simply deleting content from a hard drive will not do the trick.
Not all degaussers are created equal – companies that need above-average protection should check to see if the degausser in use is NSA certified. Additionally, e-recyclers that follow the Department of Defense’s (DoD) data destruction guidelines, meet National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, and adhere to standards of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) will help ensure proper sanitation of sensitive data from recordable media.
Receive certificate of destruction
When you request a certificate of destruction, you’ll find peace of mind knowing that your e-recycler has taken full liability for the destruction of the device. While this isn’t always required, some companies find this extra step of protection important for the sake of their customer or client’s protection.
Look for certifications and seals
Various certifications exist to ensure e-recycling companies are safely recycling and managing electronics. When you see seals like these, you know that e-recyclers are being consistently educated and are up-to-date on best practices. At the end of the day, it’s not only your data at stake, it’s the environment, too.
