A company has just refreshed several desktop PCs. The hard drives contain PII. Which of the following is the BEST method to dispose of the drives?
A company has just refreshed several desktop PCs. The hard drives contain PII. Which of the following is the BEST method to dispose of the drives?
When disposing of hard drives that contain PII (Personally Identifiable Information), the goal is complete and irreversible data destruction. The most effective method for achieving this is degaussing. Degaussing delivers a powerful magnetic pulse that disrupts the magnetic domains on the disk platters, making the data irretrievable. This process ensures that the drives are no longer functional, thus eliminating any possibility of data recovery. While drilling, low-level formatting, and erasing/wiping can also render data unrecoverable to varying degrees, they do not guarantee the same level of security as degaussing, which makes the data permanently inaccessible.
What is Degaussing? Degaussing is a method of permanently erasing data from working and non-working hard drives, tape, and floppy disks. Degaussing completely sanitizes the media of data in seconds by delivering a powerful magnetic pulse that instantly destroys all magnetic domains on the disk platters. Source: https://garnerproducts.com/what-is-degaussing#:~:text=What%20is%20Degaussing%3F,domains%20on%20the%20disk%20platters.
Degaussing destroys the drive preventing them from being refreshed.
I don't know man, i though drilling be pretty safe as well.
The data on the parts of the platter that were not drilled is still capable of being read by certain tools. Degaussing is the most secure method of these options.
D. Erasing/wiping is the best method to dispose of the drives that contain PII. Erasing or wiping the hard drives involves overwriting all data on the drives, making it more difficult or impossible for anyone to recover the data. This method is recommended by most data destruction standards, including NIST 800-88, which is widely recognized in the industry. Drilling or physically destroying the drives is also a viable option, but it may not be practical or cost-effective for a large number of drives, and it may not be environmentally friendly. Degaussing and low-level formatting are not recommended for the disposal of drives that contain PII because they may not completely remove all data and may leave residual magnetic fields that can cause data recovery issues.
Since we're talking about hard drives and not SSDs here, the best way to dispose of them would be through Degaussing. B is the answer
D. Erasing/wiping. Erasing or wiping the hard drives ensures that the data stored on them is completely removed and cannot be recovered. This process is essential for protecting sensitive information, such as PII, from falling into the wrong hands. Drilling, degaussing, and low-level formatting might not completely destroy the data or could be less reliable methods for ensuring data destruction compared to a thorough erasing or wiping process.
I think it is honestly, B Degausing, since the question Ask how to Dispose of it instead of reusing it. Degaussing will make it unusable, while Erasing/Wiping the hard drive will still be usable.
D is the Answer because theres possiblilties of recovery on the other three options
You're absolutely trolling.
Its has to be D. =D haha
It doesn't ask for the method that provides possibility of recovery, I don't understand why people on this website assume information that is not in the question. The question asks for the BEST method to DISPOSE of the drive, which indicates it's not being re-used; the answer is B, Degaussing. Degaussing is the most effective method of ensure a disk can never be used or recovered, even after drilling a drive data could technically still be recovered in some cases.
You can definitely recover data from an SSD that's been "degaussed". I don't understand why people on this website assume information that is not in the question. The question said "Drives" not "Hard drives" SSDs are not vulnerable to magnets. I think C would really be the correct method here because it will flip every single bit on each drive thus destroying all of the data.
Physical destruction is ALWAYS the best method before recycling or repurposing to minimize the risk of leaving persistent data remnants.
Just so you are aware, CompTIA defines degaussing as a physical method of destruction. Regardless, degaussing would be the correct answer because with drilling it is technically possible to recover some data from a drilled hard disk with the correct resources. Whereas degaussing makes the drive completely cease to function by delivering a powerful magnetic pulse, eliminating all magnetic domains on the disk platters (they're destroyed). CompTIA's definition of Physical Destruction (pg. 12) https://partners.comptia.org/docs/default-source/resources/comptia-a-220-1102-exam-objectives-(3-0) Degaussing vs. Drilling https://guarddocs.com/resource/hdd-degaussing-vs-shredding/
SSD's are not affected by degaussing, and this question did not specify what kind of drives are used, therefore Degaussing cant be assumed to be the correct answer.
Wouldn't it make more sense to drill? Degaussing doesn't work on SSDs.
drilling can still leave fragments which may be recoverable with the correct tools. If you drill a hole in something, it won't work but that doesn't mean its indistinguishable
It also doesn't state that the drives are SSD's, but from where the question says desktop, we could probably safely assume that they are HDD's instead. I know a desktop could have an SSD but for CompTIA purposes, I would go with HDD's.
I wanted to say D. There is the definition of *Resfreshing* on Google In computing, the term "refresh" has multiple meanings: Reinstalling an operating system Reinstalling a computer's operating system and updating applications, drivers, and settings can restore a computer's performance and stability. So why use degaussing on a hard drive.it would render it useless.
Erasing or wiping the hard drives involves securely deleting all data stored on the drives using specialized software or tools designed for this purpose. This process ensures that all PII and other sensitive information is effectively removed from the drives, making it unrecoverable by standard data recovery methods. Drilling: Physically drilling holes into the hard drives can destroy them, but it may not completely ensure that the data is irrecoverable. Skilled individuals or specialized equipment could potentially still recover data from the damaged drives, especially if the drilling is not thorough or if some parts of the disk remain intact. Degaussing: Degaussing involves using a powerful magnet to disrupt the magnetic fields on the hard drive, effectively erasing the data. While degaussing can be effective for certain types of magnetic media, such as magnetic tapes, it may not work reliably for modern hard drives, which use more complex magnetic storage methods.
In as much as y'all are saying deguassing, you do realize that option is absolutely useless against SSDs yeah? DRILLING HAS TO BE THE ANSWER!!! It's PII fgs!!! thats extremely sensitive data!
Yeah, good thing the question specifically stated they are HDDs and not SSDs.
sometimes they screw with us on the wording but i dont think they would do that in this scenario
Degaussing is the correct method of erasure. Question specifically states the devices in question are hard drives NOT SSDs.
Its either A or B definetly not D.
Any lessons from any professor I saw about the subject is: " for HDD the best method for disposal is degassing. This will make any data completely unrecoverable". One of them said that he personally prefer drilling as it physically destroy and misshape the disk, but the correct answer will always be degassing. Wiping is only in case the hard disk is meant to be reused
what about both. Wiping, degaussing and drilling at the same time to make sure
Drilling and degaussing are also methods of disposing of hard drives, but they may not be as secure as erasing/wiping. Drilling involves physically destroying the drive by drilling holes through it, but it may still be possible to recover some data from the remaining pieces of the drive. Degaussing involves using a strong magnetic field to erase the data on the drive, but it may not be effective on modern hard drives that use magnetic shielding to protect data.
Even after a drive has been "wiped" or "erased," the drive could still have its data or some of it pulled if someone has the right equipment and/or level of know how to extract said data. Which would leave drilling or degaussing as one of the possible answers.
Drilling certainly isn't the answer here: As per CompTIA textbook: A disk can also be destroyed using drill or hammer hand tools—do be sure to wear protective goggles. While safe for most cases, this method is not appropriate for the most highly confidential data as there is at least some risk of leaving fragments that could be analyzed using specialist tools.