How do businesses rid themselves of data that has reached the end of its life cycle? There's a lot to consider before choosing your sanitation method. Your company's data doesn't simply reside within the four walls of your business. It passes through multiple IT systems and gets stored in other venues throughout its life. Although there are many data access controls and different types of encryption, sensitive and confidential data can fall into the wrong hands.

What Is Sensitive or Confidential Data?

Sensitive data is considered personal data that reveals demographics, sexual orientation, race, religious preferences, and philosophical beliefs. Confidential data reveals personal work history, social security information, trade secrets, tax data, legal or regulatory requirements. Many businesses consider the two terms the same thing.

Where Is the Data Stored and for How Long?

If your company has been in business for a long time, you're likely to have older types of storage media and newer storage media. Magnetic tape, hard drives, and flash drives are all types of storage media. The length of time that you store your sensitive and confidential data is a legal and regulatory issue dependent on national and state statutes, and what type of business you have.

How Can You Erase or Destroy Your Data?

Even if you physically try to destroy your hard drive with bleach or a hammer, the data will still be there for an expert or a hacker to find. One way to rid your computer of data is through cryptographic erase which prevents others to read the sanitized information.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has all the guidelines you need for media sanitization. Through this document, you will understand the sanitization procedures, who the stakeholders responsible for making the decisions to purge your company's sensitive and confidential data are, and various flowcharts that help you with the decision flow.

When you go through the process, you may need a certificate of media disposition which will show the following details: manufacturer, model, serial number, who the property was assigned to, and the media type that the information was on. Also, it will certify confidentiality agreements, the tools used to purge the media and all the stakeholder information like name, position within the company and contact information.

Destroying sensitive and confidential information in your company is a legal process and should never be undertaken without proper authorization, including legal counsel. Data only has so long a life cycle, then it must be purged, but documented.

For more information, reach out to a data destruction solution company.