RE: secure disposal of backup tapes

["Corey Watts-Jones" <cwattsjones () rogers com>]

I find that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

For older tapes, nothing beats smacking it with a hammer and then adding a
little acetone to it in the form of nail polish remover. It has an
interesting effect on mylar and other plastic products.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Chow [mailto:rynchow () gmail com] 
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 5:50 AM
To: Murad Talukdar
Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: secure disposal of backup tapes

How extreme you go with the disposal of the tapes goes with the value
of the data on them and the risk of disclosure.  At the lowest end
would be degaussing to physical destruction of the media at the
extreme.

If it was only a small amount of tapes I would remove the tape from
the cassette and then run them through a shredder and mixing them all
together.  Good luck finding the right pieces.

However given the density of tape media there is a minimum size of a
length of tape that would still potentially contain recoverable
information.

If this is not a once off situation I would recommend that a process
be created that ensured for every tape used and destroyed by the
organisation is accounted for.  That is the creation of a clear audit
trail from initial usage to its subsequent disposal.  Such a process
ensures that the risk of unauthorised disclosure of information from
the backups is reduced.

Ryan.

On 22/11/05, Murad Talukdar <talukdar_m () subway com> wrote:
> Hi I wanted to get some ideas from everyone for secure disposal of
> DDS/TRAVAN/DLT backup tapes.
> How do you burn yours?
>
>
> Kind Regards
> Murad Talukdar