Data security is a critical concern for many CTOs and IT managers, especially when equipment reaches end-of-life. You need a way to manage the IT assets to ensure your data security remains intact after the assets leave your custody.
An essential aspect of IT asset disposal management is meticulous tracking of the chain of custody, from point of departure to final disposition. At I.T. Supply Solutions, we are the IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) experts that specialize in this process. We provide comprehensive services that ensure the secure and complete erasure of all data stored on IT assets including mobile devices, removable memory, servers, and SSDs.
Related Post: Why We Use The Best Drive Erase Software On Earth To Ensure Data Security
What Is Drive Eraser Software?
Drive eraser software must provide 100% sanitization of your hard drives, SSDs, and memory to be effective. You might be tempted to use free or open-source software. Our suggestion? Don’t. You get what you pay for, and cheap drive eraser software simply doesn’t cut it.
The best drive eraser software just writes over portions of your hard drive. You need one that writes over every last segment of your memory, no matter what protocols your equipment uses. That’s why we use Blancco to securely erase end-user devices, including phones, ultimately to make sure your organization complies with any regulatory requirements for data erasure.
How Does Drive Eraser Software Work?
At their heart, memory systems for all computerized equipment use a complex series of 1s and 0s (binary code) to store and use information. Drive eraser software overwrites current data on the existing memory drive to make it completely unreadable to the computer’s operating system.
Blancco’s patented Drive Eraser offers world-class data erasure that withstands forensic recovery methods, which is vital after techs perform a factory reset on the software.
The best drive eraser software will:
Remove freeze locks. A freeze lock is a security feature designed to protect passwords from malicious software. Freeze locks are notorious for preventing the proper erasure of a hard drive.
Erase firmware, including internal drive commands. Firmware is the based operational software specific to a particular type of hardware.
Identify bad and remapped sectors, which happens when permanent damage occurs. Even with permanent damage, forensic data recovery can still retrieve data.
Remove data from hidden areas, like HPA and DCO, two areas of the hard drive only accessible through special utility software. The operating system can’t even reach this part of the hard drive.
Erase drive partitions, such as MBR and GPT, that can segment off parts of the memory drive.
Verify the erasure process, including identifying malfunctions and the processes performed on the memory drive.
How Is Data Erasure Reported?
At the end of the overwriting process, the drive eraser software confirms your data security by creating a tamper-proof data erasure report, commonly called a certificate of sanitization. Your organization will receive drive-level reports on every item erased.
Blancco goes one step further. It also diagnoses the assets following the erasure to make sure they still work correctly when operating systems are reinstalled.
Related Post: Data Security Is Vitally Important For Removable Media & Hard Drives
Trust Your Data Erasure With I.T. Supply Solutions
I.T. Supply Solutions, based in the Cincinnati area, offers IT asset disposition and data erasure for your company or organization, whether you’ve got 100 units or 100,000. If you have any further questions about our drive eraser methods, feel free to call (859) 694-0602 or contact us. We’re happy to help in any way we can.
