Data Destruction Service

Data destruction is a term that refers to the removal or eradication of magnetic or optical computer storage media. The method of destruction varies, dependent upon the medium and method used in the process. The aim of data destruction is to physically destroy the data so as to remove the possibility of recovery.

Computer storage media requires some form of sanitization at the end of it's working life, particularly when it holds sensitive information that could inadvertently be read by third parties. This is extremely relevant to businesses and corporations, where data may contain information pertaining to the general public or third parties, such as clients. Similarly, confidential corporate information, including patent designs, business strategies and other sensitive data could easily be accessed by third parties if the data is not removed.

As I said at the outset, methods of destruction vary, depending upon storage medium. For each storage medium, a variety of destruction techniques also exist.

Optical media, such as cd roms, DVDs can be destroyed by granulating the plastics into 5mm chips. This method does not remove the data, but makes recovery near impossible. However, removal of the thin film that coats the top side of the disk, by scraping, scouring or sanding will physically destroy the data. By contrast, the use of microwave ovens, a less conventional technique, is highly effective due to the static charge and consequent arcing across the thin film storage layer of the disk.

Typical modern magnetic media constitutes tape backup units and Hard Disk drives. Unfortunately, tape backup units are very hard to destroy, due to the length of the tape, upon which a film of iron oxide layer retains the magnetic media. Shredding of such media is possible, but requires significant financial investment in plant capable of handling such devices. Acids, in particular, Nitric acid, at 50% concentration, will react violently with the iron oxide layer, destroying it completely within minutes. However, this process requires the removal of the outer plastic case to adequately expose the internal media storage tape. In some circumstances, incineration of the storage media may be an option. However, this may inadvertently expose the operator to carenogens and may be prohibited in certain countries.

The variety of Hard Disk drives available, method of connectivity (SATA, IDA, ATA, SCA, SCSI) means that data destruction software has had to be intelligent enough to differentiate between these different interfaces. Software driven destruction of hard drives is a highly efficient eradication technique that has been shrouded in urban myths, masking the true ease with which data can be permanently removed. In many instances, a single pass binary wipe (writing random zeros and ones to the drive) will permanently remove all data from the storage device. However, international standards exist, which all require more significant wiping processes, most of which will inadvertently result in complete failure of the hard drive due to the high temperatures generated.

Hard drive destruction may also be undertaken via other means, including the granulating of the drive to 5mm particulate level, use of a furnace to destroy and ultimately recover the Aluminium and use of corrosive materials such as Acids to remove the recording surfaces from the disk.

All the above methods are quantifiable, in that the destruction of the data can be confirmed, etheri via visual inspection of the drive storage device or by a software interface. However, the final data destruction technique, that known as degaussing, whereby a strong electromagnet is used to remove the magnetically stored data has no method of validation. It is for this reason that this has technique has been left until last. It is for this reason that the US government and military require the use of a deguasser that has been approved by the NSA.



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