Data security is an exceedingly complicated and expensive cost center for organizations, while physical end-of-life data destruction is fairly straightforward and inexpensive; yet, many organizations pour millions into data security without considering the disposal of their end-of-life media.
Click the button below for an instant download.
Data security is an exceedingly complicated and expensive cost center for organizations, while physical end-of-life data destruction is fairly straightforward and inexpensive; yet, many organizations pour millions into data security without considering the disposal of their end-of-life media.
Fill out the form below for an instant download.
Where do hard drives go when they die? You can’t just toss them in the trash. There’s too much sensitive information on them that could result in significant liabilities. So what should you do? Before you can decide what to do, you also need to identify the sensitivity of the information and type of media that needs to be disposed.
While there are many acronyms and levels of information, it’s actually reasonably simple if you break it down into two categories. The first high security information, which is information that is typically found in the highest levels of government. So sensitive that it may pose a threat to the defense of our country. The second is sensitive information. In today’s world where criminals are trying to steal identities or proprietary information, virtually all information is now sensitive. This is most applicable in the health care, financial, banking and retail industries as well as education and state/local governments.
Once you have categorized the type of information, you need to determine how the data is stored? High security and sensitive information is found on a wide variety of storage devices – the bulk of which is either stored magnetically on magnetic media formats like hard disk drives and back-up data tapes or stored on chips found on a solid state devices like an SSD drives, thumb drives, cell or phones.
While there are a variety of methods to erase data such as degaussing magnetic media or implementing an erasure software program, in the end, the most effective method is to combine the data erasure with a method to physically destroy the media. One such physical destruction method is the use of a hard drive shredder.
But do I need a shredder that is designed for platter based magnetic drives and another one for solid state drives?
Not necessarily.
While systems that are designed specifically for either platter based drives or storage chip based devices are certainly highly efficient, a combo unit, like the SEM Model 0315 HDD/SSD COMBO shown here, deploys two separate openings that feed cutting chambers designed to effectively shred either a magnetic platter based HDD and/or a solid state chip based device. The magnetic media HDD side of the shredder will reduce the media to a particle size that is as small as .75” while the other side is designed to shred the solid state device down to .375” (9.5 mm), small enough to insure that all of the storage chips on the media are destroyed. Other combo units with greater throughput capacity are also available here.
Once you have identified the type of information and the formats in which the data is stored, you can make an informed decision of which solution best meets your end-of life data storage requirements. If the bulk of your media is either magnetic media or solid state media, consider a system designed specifically for that form of media. However, if your organization stores data on both forms of media, an all-in-one combo system that effectively shreds both may be the answer.
Don’t forget SEM is always here to help guide you through the decision making process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us today!
In 2012 Hollywood decided to make the movie Argo, starring Ben Affleck, about the 1979 Iranian Hostage event when the U.S. Embassy was overthrown. One of the key scenes in the movie involved the need to destroy sensitive information very quickly, embassy employees are frantically feeding classified documents into an SEM disintegrator.
SEM products were also featured in footage from an ABC news story, “Rare look inside the U.S. Embassy Ravaged by Iran”, about a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, at the 1:11 mark of the story, the reporter states that “even some of the equipment used in 1979 is still here.” A close up then focuses on the SEM disintegrator.
In the Movie “Mad Money”, a story about three Federal Reserve Bank employees whose role is to destroy old, worn-out currency, Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton and Katie Holmes are shown feeding the currency into an SEM disintegrator, of course they “‘borrowed” some of it before it entered the system.
As a supplier of shredding equipment since 1967, SEM has placed shredding systems in many sensitive locations both here and abroad. High security agencies within the Federal Government and many World Wide Central Banks throughout the globe have active systems that have been functioning for up to 20 or 30 years.
In addition to shredding/disintegration, SEM is also mentioned in the very recent movie 13 Hours, the story about 9-11-12 terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy/diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. In one of the scenes, while under attack, embassy employees were erasing sensitive data on magnetic media (hard drives) using an SEM degausser.
In one of the most widely witnessed scenes in recent history, the 1975 rooftop evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, an SEM disintegrator, located under a canopy on the roof is in plain view. During a recent visit to that site, a U.S. Govt. employee took a photo of the unit which is still located on the roof. He also removed the model/serial number plate and sent it to us. He may not be 100% sure, but he believes that after 40 years, the unit is still operational.
As the inventor of the disintegrator and a leading supplier of high security destruction and sanitization solutions to the Federal Government and fortune 100 commercial customers for the past 50 years, our product line has evolved to keep up with the ways in which information is stored. While disintegrators are still a viable and effective solution, our product line has evolved into a complete line of solutions to erase and shred the newest forms of information storage media. From magnetic media like hard disk drives and back-up tapes to optical disks to solid state technology, SEM has developed and introduced a comprehensive line of media end-of-life solutions to meet the information security demands of today.
