data destruction Archives - Page 8 of 8

Security Engineered Machinery Introduces Enterprise Line of Data Destruction Devices

June 13, 2018 at 4:03 pm by SEM

Security Engineered Machinery Co., Inc. (SEM), global leader in high security information end-of-life solutions, announced the introduction of a line of hard drive destroyers specifically engineered for enterprise drive destruction. The Enterprise Line, which includes rotational and solid state shredders and a disintegrator, is the first of its kind in the data destruction industry.

“We engineered the Enterprise Line to address the needs of our data center clients,” said Nicholas Cakounes, Executive Vice President of SEM. “The overwhelming client feedback we received expressed an imminent need for data destruction devices that could easily handle the larger, thicker, denser enterprise drives commonly found in data center environments.”

The Enterprise Line includes the compact, quiet Model 0315 hard drive shredder designed for office use, as well as the high-volume Model 0305 and Model 0304 shredders. The 0315 shreds up to 90 enterprise rotational hard disk drives (HDDs) and up to 120 enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) per hour at 1.5” final particle size, whereas the industrial grade 0305 and 0304 destroy up to 800 HDDs/1,200 SSDs and 1,400 HDDs/2,000 SSDs per hour, respectively. All three models are available in multiple configurations to accommodate a variety of user requirements: rotational hard disk drive (HDDs) only, solid state drive (SSD) only, and a combo version that destroys both HDDs and SSDs utilizing separate feed openings and cutting chambers. Final particle size for HDDs ranges from 1.5” to 0.75”, and final particle size for SSDs is 0.375”. All shredders in the new Enterprise Line are noted on the NSA/CSS Evaluated Products List (EPL) for HDD Destruction Devices as an approved solution for the “deformation of magnetic media hard drive platters” and are GDPR, NIST 800-88, SOX, FACTA, HIPAA, FISMA, NAID, and DoD compliant.

In addition to the three shredder models, SEM’s new Enterprise Line includes the Model 2SSD Disintegrator engineered to destroy SSDs to a nominal particle size of 2mm². This newly redesigned machine employs an industrial grade, dual stage cutting system with specially enhanced cutting blades and sizing screens to provide maximum throughput in an office environment. Designed with a custom, steel-insulated sound enclosure for maximum sound control, the 2SSD also features an internal carbon-based pre-filter and HEPA air filtration system for operator safety as well as odor and dust control. Click for video.

“After pilot testing the devices with our existing Fortune 50 data center clients, we realized that the Enterprise Line provides the ideal solution to organizations looking to safeguard privacy and mitigate risk in the data center and beyond,” added Andrew Kelleher, President of SEM. “In addition to data centers, security-focused organizations such as the federal government, healthcare providers, and financial institutions are facing increased compliance requirements in parallel with more frequent use of enterprise drives into their data centers. The problem becomes what to do with the drives at end-of-life to maintain privacy and compliance — we are providing that solution.”

All devices in the Enterprise Line are specifically designed for enterprise drive destruction with increased torque, industrial grade construction, and more rugged cutting heads, enabling the system to cut through multiple steel plates, carriers, and other enterprise drive constructed components such as heat sinks and cooling tubes.

Security Engineered Machinery Turns 50

June 11, 2018 at 5:15 pm by SEM

Security Engineered Machinery Co. Inc. (SEM), global leader in high security end-of-life solutions, is celebrating 50 years of protecting corporate and national security interests through continuous innovations in the field of document and media sanitization technology.

Through a combination of in-house engineering and design as well as direct manufacturing in our Westboro, MA facility, SEM has consistently produced innovative data sanitization products and services for the intelligence organizations of the U.S. Federal Government, including our military, embassies and other government entities, in addition to a wide commercial market.

Founded in 1967 by Korean War veteran, Leonard Rosen, the company’s initial product was a paper disintegrator that allowed users to reduce large volumes of top-secret documents down to unreadable particles in a quick and secure manner. SEM’s disintegration was a vast improvement over incineration in speed, convenience, and environmental impact and was quickly accepted as the primary destruction method of the U.S. Government. In the mid 1970s SEM introduced a full line of office paper shredders to allow users to destroy documents closer to their source.

As record storage transitioned from paper to electronic media, the company continued to innovate to meet the new sanitization demands created by this new technology including computer tape, optical media, hard drives and solid-state media. Today, SEM holds several patents and is the global industry leader for multiple forms of sanitization and destruction including degaussing, crushing, shredding, and disintegration of any type of electronic media such as hard drives, optical media and solid state storage systems.

Founder and Chairman Len Rosen is still actively involved in the day-to-day activities of the company, but is quick to deflect credit for success to his management team and entire staff. “It seems like we just started this yesterday” said Rosen. “The growth has been amazing, but I’m most proud of how we continue to adapt as a company, not just to stay relevant, but to lead the industry with innovative solutions.”

Security Engineered Machinery Founder Honored as ASIS Life Member

May 31, 2018 at 5:08 pm by SEM

Leonard Rosen has been a continuous member of ASIS since 1968

Security Engineered Machinery Co., Inc. is pleased to announce that Leonard Rosen, SEM founder and Chairman of the Board, has been honored with Life Member status by the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). ASIS grants Life Member status to individuals who have 50 years of continuous membership within the organization. Mr. Rosen founded SEM in 1967 and became a member of ASIS in 1968.

“Receiving ASIS Life Member status was unexpected, and quite an honor,” said Mr. Rosen. “To me, this speaks volumes about the quality and endurance of Security Engineered Machinery, which has enabled me to remain a member of ASIS over the past five decades. SEM has consistently adapted to changing technology while continuing to grow through the years, and I am so proud to be part of this incredible organization. We started by selling paper shredders to the federal government and now manufacture data destruction devices for every type of data and for every type of client. SEM continues to be a robust organization that has helped to protect national security for over 50 years.”

Throughout the years, SEM has supported ASIS through trade show participation as well as advertising in ASIS publications, including Security Management. In addition, SEM team members maintain membership and actively participate in regional chapters of ASIS.

“ASIS is truly the premier security association for security-centric government and commercial entities, and I am thrilled to gain Life Member status in such an upstanding organization,” added Mr. Rosen.

Mr. Rosen founded SEM in 1967 to fill a clear need for high security disintegration equipment for the federal government. He has possessed numerous positions with SEM over the years, including sales and marketing and operations. Prior to founding SEM, Mr. Rosen served in the U.S. Army and is a Korean War Veteran, after which he served in management positions related to sales and marketing roles with various domestic and international manufacturers. A graduate of Boston University, Mr. Rosen continues to be actively involved with SEM day-to-day operations and serves as Chairman of the Board.

“In addition to strategic vision that laid the foundation for SEM’s success, Len possesses exceptional leadership capabilities that are directly responsible for the longevity of SEM employees, whose service can often be counted in decades rather than years,” commented Andrew Kelleher, President of SEM. “He valued and encouraged work-life balance and positive company culture before anyone even knew what they were, and SEM continues to operate in that vein. It is rare to find someone with the vision and integrity of Len Rosen.”

Hard Drive Shredders – Which is right for you?

May 8, 2018 at 11:15 am by SEM

Shredding a hard drive just like a paper shredder, how can that be? That’s right, when it comes time to dispose of old hard drives that contain millions of pages of data and information, they can be shredded into strip cut pieces just like a paper shredder. The question is which hard drive shredder best meets an individuals or company’s needs?

Which Hard Drive Shredder is Best?

In order to determine which hard drive shredder is the best solution, a few things must be considered. What is the volume of drives needed to be destroyed? What is the security level required? Do we have the proper power to operate the system? Once these are answered, the search can begin.

SEM offers a variety of hard drive shredders that answer all of these questions. From a low volume, small footprint, office-like system with standard single phase power like the SEM Model 0300 to a larger, industrial size, high volume system with 3-phase power like the SEM Model 0304, SEM has a solution to meet your needs.

Prioritize Your Needs

If SECURITY is your most important priority – the smaller the better. As such, a .75” strip cut is more desirable than 1.0” or 1.5”. Model 0304 have the capabilities to produce all three strip cut sizes.

If VOLUME is more important – any of the systems with a shred size of 1.5” produce the higher volumes that range from 500 to 3500 hard drives per hour.

POWER –The Model 0300 requires standard 120V -20Amp power while the remainder of systems require 3-phase power at 208, 230 or 460V. Therefore, your facility must be able to accommodate this power.

SPACE – The 3-phase power units that can shred high volumes require enough space to accommodate the shredder and the discharge conveyor. A collection container to accept the shredded drives must also be considered. As such, the facility must have enough room to handle these configurations.

What to do With Shredder Drives

Hard drives contain a variety of precious metals such as gold, copper, aluminum, and more. Once the drives are shredded, these can be sold to recyclers who have the capability to separate the metals through a smelting process. When gold prices are up, it doesn’t take much to make these shredded drives very valuable. At the time of this report, a shredded hard drive had a value of about 50 cents per drive.

Ameri-shred shredder hdd — SEM Model 0304

SUMMARY:

If you have need to dispose of hard drives or similar items such as cell phones, blackberries, etc., an SEM hard drive shredder is a clean, simple to operate, highly effective solution. And with so many options available from SEM, there’s always one that fits your needs.

Is There a Single Machine I can get to Destroy Everything?

April 23, 2018 at 9:58 am by SEM

Look through a catalog or web site for high security information destruction devices and you’ll find so many types of machines: shredders, disintegrators, crushers, grinders, and more. Some machines handle one type of material, like just CDs and DVDs for example. Other machines destroy two or more kinds of media.

That leads to the question- “isn’t there just one machine I can get to destroy everything?” For simplicity, low cost, less use of space, this is a natural question. Even better, can’t the “everything machine” be approved for handling the highest sensitivity materials, like government classified items. Unfortunately, the miracle machine that “does it all” doesn’t exist; at least not yet. Here’s why:

Office Shredders: these machines are great for paper documents and there are high security models that are NSA approved at the highest level. But the highest security versions can’t shred anything but paper. Yes, there are combo machines that also shred paper, but the high security models are really two shredder heads in one cabinet. Even more problematic, these machines can suffer severe, costly damage if an operator accidentally feeds a CD or DVD into the paper-only feed slot.

Whitaker-destroy-it-2605 — SEM Model 244 NSA Listed Paper Shredder

Office Mixed Media Destroyers– these are small, knife mill disintegrators. They offer some useful capabilities, including three separate NSA listings (paper documents, CD, and key tape). Plus, they destroy a huge range of other items, like flash memory, thumb drives, cell phones, small tape cartridges, and lots more. Seems like a candidate for doing it all, right? Well, not quite all. Paper throughput for office disintegrators is only 5-6 sheets every 10 seconds. Even a very small high security paper shredder can beat that. These machines can’t accept heavier items, like hard drives or large tape cartridges. So, still not the answer for everything, but still very useful for many applications.

The Model 200 Mixed Media Destroyer is ideal for the destruction of a wide variety of media including cell phones, flash drives, computer backup tapes and much more.

SEM Model DS-400 Mixed Media Disintegrator

Full Sized Disintegrators– these are big, industrial style machines that use the same cutting method as office mixed media destroyers. These disintegrators are the closest we can get to an everything machine. They are a great choice for many high volume mixed media requirements. These machines can take larger items, like bulk paper documents, bound books/manuals, full tape cartridges, and more. But, they can’t destroy other things, like whole hard drives. And, they won’t fit everyone’s situation. In particular, not everyone has the right location for these machines. They are not office machines. They need an isolated location and high voltage electrical supply. They also need more training or supervision than office machines.

1012-disintegrator — SEM Model 1012 Disintegrator

The best answer to the “everything machine” question is that there isn’t a single perfect machine that can destroy all types of information bearing media at the highest security levels, let alone one that is office friendly and affordable. What to do about that? Make a careful study of the types and quantities of materials needing destruction. Determine the types and numbers of likely users. Then, select the two or three machines that can best handle the requirements for your particular needs and situation.

Need assistance narrowing down which machines you need? Contact SEM today to learn why we’re the industry leader 50 years after inventing the world’s first disintegrator.

SEM Donates to Local Food Bank

December 20, 2017 at 5:40 pm by Heidi White

SEM employees in the Westboro, MA corporate headquarters donated over 250 pounds of food to the Worcester County Food Bank. To incentivize employees to donate more food, SEM offered a gift card as a raffle prize for employees who donated. Employees received one ticket per 10 pounds of food donated. The best part? The winner decided to donate the gift card to the Worcester County Food Bank as well. We couldn’t be more proud of our employees and their dedication to supporting the local community.

How to Ensure Information Security in Your Workplace

September 25, 2017 at 2:44 pm by SEM

When running any commercial business, department or government organization today, the last thing that you likely want to impact your organization with is a data breach. According to a recent study on the cost of data breaches in the past year, U.S. companies paid an average of $ 5.4 million to cope with the repercussions of data breaches. Don’t allow your organization to become a victim of a data breach. Here are 5 ways to ensure information security in your workplace:

1. MAKE DATA SECURITY A TOP CONCERN

Through simple, easy to follow security policies, you can train your employees on information security best practices. Additionally, you could appoint a safety committee to help keep security issues a focus.

2. KEEP PHYSICAL INFORMATION SECURE

Keep all physical information your company has secured by only allowing certain personnel to handle it. Give keys or passes to only those who need to have access to that information. Keep tabs on who has handled any sensitive documents and when.

3. CREATE A SECURE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT POLICY

Keep track of all sensitive documents throughout their life cycle and dispose of them based on compliance regulations. Create a data security checklist and make sure all employees adhere to it.

4. DESTROY HARD DRIVES

The only way to be completely sure that your sensitive data will not fall into the wrong hands is to destroy data from hard drives permanently through hard drive sanitization (otherwise known as degaussing), destruction or in some cases both. Be aware that many office electronics, such as copiers and multi-purpose machines, now contain hard drives that store data, not just computers. If you lease office equipment, check with the vendor to make sure that they dispose of media containing data using secure, environmentally sound processes.

5. BRING IN A PROFESSIONAL

At SEM, your business’ information security and well-being is important to us. If your company is required to be in compliance with certain privacy laws or meet even higher secure compliance levels, you probably want to minimize that huge risk of a data breach. At SEM we offer solutions to all of these information security concerns by offering expertise with both a certificate of destruction for data destruction and sanitization of every media type or provide you equipment solutions that will allow you to control your secure destruction program to erase or destroy your organizations data under your own roof.

At SEM, we help businesses and government organizations find real solutions for addressing real information security needs that will reduce their waste disposal costs and improve their environmental footprints, with shredding and recycling service programs that are convenient and secure.

For 50 years SEM has been the largest direct supplier of information destruction and sanitization equipment in the US – where our reputation speaks for itself.

For more information contact us at 800-225-9293.

Information Destruction Guidelines for State and Local Governments

September 5, 2017 at 2:51 pm by SEM

Unlike the Federal Government, where the NSA provides information destruction requirements for classified information, there are no specific guidelines for state governments. Although there are several organizations that have some requirements for the commercial world and all states comply with federal privacy laws such as HIPAA, each state is on its own when it comes to information destruction. It can be difficult to decide what level of destruction is best for your needs.

Recently the IRS has updated Publication 1075 Tax Information Security Guidelines for Federal, State and Local Agency’s. This is a detailed public policy for information handling and destruction. It outlines specifically how the IRS expects Federal Tax Information that they share with other agencies be handled and destroyed. It specifically states that paper must be destroyed down to a 1MM X 5MM spec with a shredder to using a 3/32 screen size if using a disintegrator. Both are a requirement of classified documents. For hard drives, they must be degaussed before being destroyed. It also includes requirements for CD/DVDs and even microfilm.

As we all know the IRS is a massive organization and has the most important personal information on each tax payer in this country. When you think about it, they share our information with several other Federal agencies and even state and local governments. Therefore with all that information being shared it’s of the utmost importance that it be handled properly then destroyed to where nothing can be compromised.

So to say the least, I am quite impressed with IRS Publication 1075. They clearly take seriously the information they collect and share with other government agencies based on the handling and destruction guidelines detailed in Publication 1075.

If you are a state and local government and need assistance destroying your sensitive data contact us directly to discuss your destruction needs.

Shredder Training is the Key to Maximizing the Performance and Life of your Destruction Equipment

July 11, 2017 at 1:59 pm by SEM

Shredders, disintegrators, briquettors, optical media destroyers, HDD/SSD shredders, HDD crushers and degaussers are critical components of your overall information security program. Keeping these systems in good working order is extremely important, and easy to do with proper user training.

Probably the biggest factor in the longevity of any equipment is tied to proper training in the operation, daily maintenance and preventative maintenance. Depending on your equipment and site there are programs that can train your people to operate, maintain and troubleshoot so you avoid problems and keep the equipment up and running well.

Training can be done at your site with your equipment during a scheduled PM call, on a specific scheduled visit to your site, or at a training facility where factory service reps will go over all aspects of operation, daily maintenance, preventative maintenance as well as, tips and tricks to get the most of your systems and avoid the pitfalls. At the beginning of the training there will be a Q & A to help identify the issues of greatest concern to the group. During the training all participants are encouraged to ask questions and will have the opportunity to get “hands on” so they thoroughly understand the material being taught. After the training and a final Q & A each participant will be given a certificate of completion designating which equipment they were trained on. This is a great way for users to add additional value to their skill sets and company capabilities.

The training can be specialized to cover any and all the issues you may be having with your specific equipment, and discuss in detail how to fix and mitigate these in the future.

Some of the things your users will learn from attending training:

Changing knives, clearing and preventing jams, servicing dust filters, proper lubrication, testing belt tension, aligning conveyor belts, swapping out shredder heads-(depending on equipment) among many others.

The goal is maximizing machine availability for the organization and imparting the skills to help users diagnose and recognize potential issues before they become bigger problems.

And investment in a proper training program will pay dividends in equipment up time and save your organization money in the long run.

Click here for more information on SEM’s Preventative Maintenance and Service plans or call 800-225-9293.

Data Destruction from 1980-2014: a Retrospective

June 1, 2014 at 5:01 pm by SEM

After 34 years in the information destruction industry, I am finally riding off into retirement or to use a famous golf analogy, “I am on the back nine.”…..actually, I am on the 18^th hole walking toward the clubhouse. I would like to take a moment to reflect on the various changes in the shredding industry (if any) and mention a few of the accepted methods used today to destroy the most common forms of media.

What’s changed: Back in the early 80’s, or as far back as I can remember, the most common acceptable methods of destroying paper was incineration or disintegration. Both methods are still in use today but incineration is less common due to environmental restrictions and inconvenience. Back in the day, high security cross cut shredders were not yet approved for top secret level paper. Disintegrators, which pulverize paper into tiny bits, was the most common destruction method with most federal government organizations and private industry companies that were tied directly to the defense industry. Disintegrators were first introduced by SEM back in the mid 60’s and due to their ruggedness & versatility, are still used today to destroy a variety of media forms.

When classified top secret paper shredders finally arrived on the scene in the early 80’s, the approved shred size was 0.8 x 11.1 mm (1/32″ × 7/16″). Events in history, including the Iranian US Embassy hostage takeover and the episode with Colonel Oliver North shredding the Iran –Contra documents in the late 80’s, created a significant public awareness on document shredding.

In the mid 80’s, it was uncommon to see the general public or non-government companies shredding sensitive documents. In October 2008, the government established a new set of guidelines requiring an even smaller (1mm x 5mm) shred size for top secret paperwork. In government circles, this is referred to level 6 / P-7 or NSA approved.

What happened to the Paperless Society ? When microfiche arrived (are you old enough to remember micro fiche?), it was common to hear people say that we have finally entered a “ paperless society”. I remember how scary it was for a young sales guy to hear that statement, especially when you are trying to make your living selling paper shredders. From a security standpoint microforms, which included mostly micro fiche and 35mm film, created somewhat of a destruction issue due to the fact that it was a reduced image material that required extreme destruction standards. Imagine that, a whole book on one sheet of film. At the time, the government destruction standard for microforms was a dust-like particle. Back then, there were very few approved microfiche shredders on the market and they could only shred very small amounts at a time. It was a tediously slow process.

What hasn’t changed: So here we are in 2014. We have our high speed super computers storing information on a variety media including: CDs/ DVDs, data tapes, hard disk drives, solid state drives and all kinds of media too long to mention that is storing sensitive information. Even though these forms of media are supposed to reduce the amount of paper, the paperless society never materialized and paper is still here in force. The way in which information is stored may have changed but what has not changed are the methods to eliminate the information. In the end, whether its paper or optical disks or data tapes or hard drives, shredding is the most accepted method to delete the data.

I will now move on to another great challenge in life for me, breaking 100 (of course, I am referring to golf). See you at the 19^th hole!

SEM Shred

Tag: data destruction