Data destruction
Prove the data is gone. In writing. Device by device.
A verbal assurance from whoever hauled off your equipment is not a defense. A serialized, written record of every device is.
The problem
The average breach starts somewhere boring.
Not a sophisticated attack. A laptop that went out the back door with a drive still in it. Regulators and insurers don't ask whether you meant to wipe it. They ask you to produce the record showing it was wiped, when, by whom, and to what standard.
If you can't produce that record, the disposal is treated as a disclosure. That's the entire reason this service exists.
Three methods
We match the method to your policy.
Tell us what your compliance framework requires and we'll pass it to our processing partner, who performs the sanitization. If you don't know, we'll help you work out what applies.
Software sanitization
Multi-pass overwrite with verification, followed by a read-back check. The drive survives and can be resold, which is what makes value recovery possible.
Best for: functional SSDs and HDDs with resale value.
Degaussing
A magnetic field strong enough to render the platters unreadable and the drive permanently inoperable. Instant and irreversible.
Best for: mechanical drives holding regulated data.
Physical shredding
The drive is fed through a shredder and reduced to fragments. Nothing recoverable remains, and the residue is recycled as commodity metal.
Best for: failed drives, and policies that require destruction.
The record
What the document actually contains.
- Make, model and serial number of every device processed
- Sanitization method applied to each individual unit
- Date of processing and who performed it
- Chain of custody from your building onward
Compliance
Frameworks this supports.
- HIPAA
- Medical and dental practices handling PHI on retired workstations.
- FACTA
- Consumer report information on any business system.
- GLBA
- Financial institutions and anyone processing customer financial data.
- FERPA
- Schools and districts cycling student devices.
- SOX
- Public companies retaining auditable disposal records.
- State breach laws
- Nearly every state now requires documented media disposal.
Timber & Tide provides documentation to support your compliance program. It isn't legal advice. Your counsel decides what your obligations are.
Know exactly what left the building, and when.
Every drive is logged by serial number before it goes on the truck, and stays under chain of custody from there. You get that record in writing, and the pickup itself is free.
Schedule a Pickup