"You don't want anyone to be able to accuse you of not taking the necessary steps to do proper data erasure.?

Kill the Data, Not the Drive

Best Buy told Hank Gerbus that holes would be drilled into his hard drive's platters, making it nearly impossible to access his data. But even if Hank's drive had had a date with the drill press, erasing a drive with a drill bit, shredder, or powerful magnetic field (degaussing) Keeping medical data under HIPAA's lab coat or toeing the Sarbanes-Oxley line is tough enough; but say, for instance, that you pony up for a 10-seat Microsoft Office license. Later, you sell three of your systems to buy new PCs, but if you didn't properly erase the old hard drives or buy new software licenses, you've suddenly got 13 PCs on a 10-seat license. One call to the Business Software Alliance by a disgruntled employee, and you're going to be less than fully gruntled, yourself. Faced with this kind of regulatory and legal pressure, some reach for the sledgehammer or the belt sander to erase data for good. But while physical destruction can (though not always) protect sensitive data, there is a better way. creates a rather expensive paperweight and is more properly called data eradication. In the IT equipment resale business, non-destructive data erasure using specialized software is often preferable. And according to Steve Hyser, "Softwarebased erasure is the only method that provides a paper trail. If you destroy a drive, you're not going to have that record. There's no way to go back and test whether a disk or a sector of that disk was completely erased.?

7 Keys to Establishing Your Own Data Erasure Policy

To keep feds, lawyers, and Hanks everywhere off your back, create a company-wide data erasure policy with the following points in mind:

1.

Depending on the size of your business and the applicable regulations, you may want to invest in the manpower, software, and hardware needed to erase data securely. Smaller businesses, however, can often save money and headaches by outsourcing the work. 2. Budget for data erasure. Unprotected data is a liability, so a data erasure budget is just as important as one for staff or equipment. 3. Put someone in charge of data erasure. As Steve Hyser puts it, "Somebody has to be at the top of the pyramid.? 4. Decide whether data should be erased on-site or off. On-site erasure is best, since data never leaves your facility, though it can cost more. Off-site erasure requires secure transport, extra documentation, and security personnel. In some cases, a combined approach works best.

5.

If you're not going to erase data in-house, choose a service provider that knows what it's doing and that provides all the documentation you'll need if Hank's lawyer calls. 6. Devise a plan that lets you manage all your equipment with minimal downtime, or have an expert contractor do it for you. 7. Research your regulatory and reporting duties. Among other information, you'll certainly need serial numbers, erasure methods, and a bulletbulletproof audit trail. Hidden data can lead to some very public - and costly - problems for your business. Establish a company-wide secure data erasure policy today so you won't show up in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow. |PSO| For more information on secure data erasure, download Canvas Systems' white paper at www.canvassystems.com/services/asset_management/data_sanitization. June 2008 | PowerSourceOnline.com 33

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