Data Destruction – Securing Sensitive Media for Disposal/ Transfer of Equipment

Michael V. McKee, University Controller

To protect the University of Florida from any risk that may be caused by the release of sensitive information to the public, Asset Management is requesting the destruction or removal of all data contained on electronic devices such as hard drives, tapes, and other magnetic media prior to transferring equipment to the Surplus Warehouse. Below is a list of resources that can be used to assist with the destruction or removal before it is transferred:

Recommended Software:
Darik’s Boot and Nuke – DBAN – for X86 and Mac PPC – Support Forum

Other Resources including Software and Methods:
http://www.auburn.edu/oit/policies/edd_dod_compliant_apps.php

http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/securedelete.shtml

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/46155/Windows_46155.html

http://www.infoanarchy.org/wiki/index.php/File_Wipe

http://www.infotech.siu.edu/csc/howto/common/dban.html

http://www1.umn.edu/oit/security/assureddelete.html

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/computing/policies/erase.html

http://privacy.health.ufl.edu/faq/qow_archive.shtml#4

http://privacy.health.ufl.edu/policies/hipaamanual/opguide/PP-OG-05-retention.pdf
For computers (X86 compatibles), once the sensitive data has been removed, the departments are asked to install a basic Operating System such as FreeDOS or the original OEM Operating System per licensing agreement.

Effective October 1, 2005, the Surplus Warehouse will no longer accept equipment if the Report of Survey does not indicate that the software/data on all electronic devices/media has been properly destroyed or removed.

The current Report of Survey and Report of Transfer forms are located at: http://fa.ufl.edu/forms/pdf/fa-am-rs.pdf

Should you have any questions, please contact Matt Alday at 392-2556 or at walday@ufl.edu.