Privacy Interview with Craig Morris
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Craig Morris
Senior Network Administrator
Maritz Canada Inc.
November 2008
Subject: Best-Practices in Disk Destruction
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Nymity: What was the disk destruction service that you choose?
Morris: We chose the Hard Drive Crusher service from Vernon Technologies as we figured this would be a more certain solution for destroying the data and also protecting the privacy of our clients. By crushing the server hard drives, we were able to cut down on the man hours that would have been spent wiping these drives using software.
Nymity: How many computers and disks did you need to recycle or destroy? What was the compelling reason?
Morris: We had 20 retired servers that have been replaced and sitting in our lab for over a year because we wanted to ensure that they were disposed of properly. These servers were sitting in our lab and taking up valuable shelf space. Our lab is a secure environment and it’s all and well that the servers were secure, for privacy reasons, but we need the space to perform our testing etc.
Each server had a between 3-7 hard drives which needed to be thoroughly wiped for the protection of us and our clients. It would take significantly longer to wipe these drives as opposed to crushing them.
Nymity: Why not reformat or use a software solution to remove personal and corporate information?
Morris: When it comes to formatting or wiping these drives we needed to look at a few variables: - Time- wiping 80 -100 hard drives would take a while
- Cost – the time it would take to wipe these drives, would to be cost prohibitive
- Security – with a background in computer forensics, I’ve seen and used utilities that can recover data from a hard drive even after it has been reformatted. Some of these utilities are even offered free on the internet. Of course we could wipe the drive according to US DOD standards, but again it comes down to TIME.
Nymity: Was there any report or certificate provided to document the disk destruction?
Morris: The serial number barcode on each hard drive was scanned into a spread sheet before the device is crushed. A copy of this spread sheet was provided for our files.
Nymity: How long did it take and did they come to your secure site?
Morris: One of the features that impressed us was the portability of the Crusher. We didn’t have to worry about the data leaving the building in a readable format. The drives were crushed right here, onsite, in our lab and once they got the unit going, it literally only took a few seconds per drive.
Nymity: Why did you select this service? What other services did Vernon provide?
Morris: Initially when we approached Vernon Technologies, it wasn’t for their Hard Drive Crushing service; we were looking for a company that would help us dispose of our assets in an environmentally friendly way. Vernon Technologies, not only offered this service, but they also offered to repair any workable laptop or desktop from our disposal units and sell this back to our employees through a web portal that they create. A portion of this fund also came back to the company as a charity benefit. They also offered to buy any working devices such as printers, scanners etc.
Nymity: In closing, would you recommend this service and what kind of organizations would benefit?
Morris: I definitely would recommend these services. Any company that is concerned about the privacy of their data and that of their clients, would benefit from this type of service. In times when identify theft and corporate espionage is prevalent, we need to take every precaution to protect ourselves and clients.