If you go back just 50 or 60 years, a lot of companies were storing customer files on index cards and paper files in the office. As computers gained ground, floppy disks and magnetic tape cartridges were used more and more. We’ve come a long way in just a few decades.
Companies store information in the cloud and on hard drives. When you’re storing customers’ or clients’ addresses, phone information, SSNs, EIDs, birth dates, and many other personal identifiers, it’s essential that you’re protecting that data. In the wrong hands, it can be devastating. Not only are they at risk of identity theft and fraud, but you’re at risk of lawsuits, government fines and penalties, and a great loss of trust.
Most business computers are outdated within five years. If you get seven to ten years, you’re incredibly lucky. The hardware becomes. Security patches and updates may no longer be supported as equipment ages, so you must upgrade. That leads to a problem with your outdated computers and hard drives. What are you doing to ensure the information on them is destroyed? This is where hard drive destruction is critical, but it’s often overlooked.
It’s essential that every business, large or small, takes appropriate measures to thoroughly and responsibly destroy hard drives. It’s your responsibility to partner with a company that knows how to destroy data and properly recycle the e-waste left behind.
ERI hard drive destruction destroys data on hard drives. After destroying data, the remaining device can be shredded into particles as small as two millimeters (edge length) in size. Nothing is shipped out of the country or outside of one of ERI’s nine high-security facilities. We only destroy hard drives at your location or one of our facilities. That’s our guarantee.
Levels of Data Destruction Services
When your hard drive destruction takes place, data is destroyed using one of several levels. Work with ERI to determine which level is suitable to your business or organization.
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Data Destruction
Data security is our promise to all of our customers, and all of our processes are independently audited and certified by NAID. We don’t fail at our mission to destroy data on hard drives and recycle the components that make up the hard drive. This level of hard drive data destruction is all most of our customers need. We destroy data and the physical hard drive meeting NIST 800-88 Rev 1 criteria.
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Enhanced Data Destruction
Sometimes, a business or organization is in a sector that requires a higher level of data eradication using media shredding or enhanced wiping services. Our Enhanced Data Destruction services can be done at on-site with you or in one of our nine secure ERI facilities. If you opt to have the hard drive destruction completed at ERI, we provide full chain of custody with TSA-certified drivers, lock boxes, and even video verification if you’d like it.
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High Security Services – Observed Data Destruction
For customers who need a higher level of hard drive destruction services, we offer Observed Data Destruction where you and highly-trained security personnel watch the destruction live. Data destruction follows your specified protocol and data security regulations that are applicable in your situation.
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On-Site Data Destruction/Shredding
If you need a higher level of security with hard drive destruction, we’ll come to your location and destroy data using On-Site Data Destruction. As everything is completed in your location, you have a full chain of custody and can track all of the processed media personally.
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Demilitarization Services
Military branches, government contractors and agencies may require demilitarization services for items classified as “top secret.” Non-essential personnel are not authorized to be in the processing area. Your contractor and a government agency official accompany the hard drives to an ERI facility. The government agency official, the contractor, and essential ERI personnel sign off on the destruction.
If you need hard drive destruction services that don’t quite fit into these categories, we’ll work with you to come up with a customer-specific destruction process to ensure it fits your exact needs.
About the DoD 5220.22-M “Standard”
People hear of the U.S. Department of Defense 5220.22-M and believe that’s the standard for secure electronic data destruction and erasure of hard drives for everyone. This protocol is one that clients ask about all of the time, but it was never used outside of the military, and even then, the DoD and other agencies no longer use it.
National Institute for Standards and Technology’s Special Publication 800-88: Guidelines for Media Sanitization is what you want. NIST SP 800-88 guidelines require sanitization in all cases except if it will not:
- Impact an organizational mission,
- Damage organizational assets,
- Or result in financial loss or harm to any individuals
For businesses, financial institutions, government institutions, and medical/dental practices, much of the information stored can harm employees, contractors, clients, and customers, so you must “Clear, Purge, and Destroy” hard drives and other media.
Security Measures at All Nine U.S. Processing Facilities
When you have your hard drives shipped to one of our nine facilities, trust that physical security is our priority.
- All nine of our facilities are NAID AAA ceritified, the highest standard in data destruction.
- All nine of our facilities are guarded during business hours.
- All have fenced and gated perimeters.
- All have motion detection security and alarm systems that are monitored by a third-party agency for 24/7 guarding.
- Video surveillance of the main areas and entries takes place 24/7.
- Main floors have metal detectors at entrances and exits.
- Loading docks have folding security gates and trucks containing e-waste are backed into loading docks for security.
- There are Asset Management and Data Destruction secured areas for authorized personnel only.
- Secured areas have metal detector wands and RFID cards/Proxy Read entrances and exits.
Reach ERI by phone or complete the online Contact Us form and our hard drive destruction expert will reach out to you in your preferred manner.