Secure E-Cycling with Certified Data Destruction

e-cycling-certified-destruction

Recycling the components of computers, smartphones, DVRs and DVD players, and other electronic devices (called E-cycling) prevents such valuable materials from being dumped into the waste stream and adding to the growing mountains of landfill. Recycling conserves essential resources, and is especially important in this case because electronic equipment typically contains hazardous waste such as mercury, lead, and cadmium, as well as copper and other precious metals.

However, it's important to keep in mind that discarded items like computers, cellphones, and other personal communications devices also tend to present a huge security challenge. They're laden with mountains of critical, sensitive data and information — personal contact lists, business mailing lists, personal text messages, E-mails, passwords, bank account and credit card data, business marketing information, product development information, and loads of other business or personal data ... you name it.

Businesses and other organizations are understandably concerned about the highly confidential and proprietary data that may still be stored on their retired computer systems, and individuals are likewise concerned about any personal information remaining on their obsolete smartphones and tablets. Any fully professional, efficient, convenient, adequate service providing commercial E-cycling of this kind of technological waste needs to include the safeguarding of sensitive, private information and its secure disposal. This includes some kind of certification that any such information and data have been reliably and securely destroyed.

A competent certified data destruction process could involve both data sanitization of the storage media as well as physical destruction. A good sanitation procedure might include a certified Department of Defense (DOD) 5220-20M disk wiping process, overwriting all of the data contained on the disk or other data media. Physical destruction of a hard drive might involve application of a mechanical crusher; use of a DOD-approved crusher is an excellent method, since it fractures the platters containing data, rendering the data absolutely unreadable.

The University of Miami School of Medicine provides a helpful online overview of these E-cycling issues: Secure data disposal methods The following link includes a table that's particularly useful: Secure disposal methods by media type.

The E-cycler must provide documented certification of certified data destruction for computer components and other electronics that may have sensitive information. A typical pick-up document trail would include an equipment manifest, a certificate of E-cycling, and a certificate of data destruction.

By relying on an E-cycling service that guarantees and certifies safe and absolutely secure data destruction, both organizations and individuals can have confidence that the security of their information is securely safeguarded while resources are appropriately conserved and the environment protected.

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