Why Your IT Staff May Not be the Best Option for Data Erasure

Your IT staff works hard. They have earned your respect and confidence for their ability to handle many tasks at once, managing your organization’s IT infrastructure capably and efficiently, keeping everyone in the business up and running. It makes sense, then, that you would want to entrust your IT staff with data erasure during the …

The Truth About 2013 Standards for Corporate Data Destruction

For over 17 years, the Department of Defense standard for data erasure – DoD 5220.22-m, often referred to in the industry as simply “DoD wipe” – has been accepted as the standard for data erasure. The DoD standard called for a three-pass approach: overwrite all locations on the drive with a character (for example, a …

Off the Network: A Hidden Risk Factor for IT Asset Disposition

Simply believing data has been erased from retired equipment at some point is not enough to give IT managers peace of mind. Where is the equipment stored prior to erasure and where does it go after? With equipment coming and going and being processed through various stages of disposition, it can be difficult to control …

Top 2 Considerations for Computer Equipment Recycling

From the perspective of environmental compliance, recycling your organization’s retired IT equipment can be a constant source of concern. The cost to your company — and your own professional reputation — of violating environmental regulations can be significant. Many organizations choose to partner with an IT asset disposition (ITAD) provider, but after you give your …

How to Ensure Compliant Data Wiping

For information security and risk management personnel, the stakes for IT asset disposition (ITAD) are high. If you are in one of these roles, you are tasked with ensuring that your organization meets your internal requirements and your industry’s regulatory standards such as HIPPA/HITECH, PCI, SOX, FACTA, GLB, FERPA. It only takes one drive to …

How IT Can Increase Flexibility by Leasing IT Assets

When properly managed, leasing, rather than purchasing IT equipment for your organization has numerous benefits. Most significantly, leasing provides additional flexibility that owning does not. Examples include: With leasing you can match the term of the lease to the projected usage of the equipment. For example, if you refresh laptops and/or tablets every 24 months, …

How to Do an IT Asset Disposition Self-Assessment

The first step your organization should take toward creating a next generation IT asset disposition (ITAD) program should be to perform an assessment of your current program. After performing such a self-assessment, your organization should be able to identify steps in its current process that are inefficient, unnecessary, or out of line with company goals, …

What is the value of R2/RIOS certification? and why both?

Adapted from a talk by Lifespan President/Founder Dag Adamson at the International Computer Refurbisher Summit on Monday, November 12. First, there is a difference between R2 and R2/RIOS.  Think of it like a cake.  The base layer is RIOS, developed by ISRI for the broader recycling industry.  It’s an ANSI accredited standard that includes all …

More Myths About IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) Data Erasure

In the previous post, we discussed some common misconceptions about data erasure, which is a top priority for most organizations that deal with the disposition of their IT assets. We found that performing data erasure internally—using your organization’s own staff and resources—is not always the least expensive, most secure way to handle it. Here are …