Blog Archives - Page 17 of 18

In-House Solutions for End-of Life Hard Drives in Data Centers

June 1, 2014 at 5:02 pm by SEM

Today, data centers are the backbone of of our digital information society. The question is: do you have a solid plan in place to effectively and securely handle your drives at end-of-life?

Whether it’s just disposing of a few failed drives, or a planned system upgrade, eliminating data from hard drives is one of the most critical elements of limiting liability in any data center.

The sensitive nature of the information on your drives makes it absolutely critical that when a drive fails or comes to end-of-life (EOL) that you efficiently, effectively and securely eliminate the possibility of that data being accessed on any defective or obsolete hard drives.

As data storage technology evolves, so must the data eliminations and destruction process. Depending on the security level of the drives, classified, top secret, or just sensitive, there are many ways to accomplish this vital task.

If you operate a data center with government classified or top secret information, according to the NSA, you need to first sanitize, also known as degaussing, a hard drive with an NSA approved device. Then once degaussed the hard drive must be shred, punched or otherwise physically destroyed.

More detailed information on degaussing options can be found here.

If you don’t have any government secrets on your drives or a strict internal policy, all you need to do is physically destroy them. No degaussing is required.

Crushers that punch and bend the drives are a great option for small batches of drives, or as support for smaller data centers, shipping them out to use as needed.

Whitaker-crusher-HSM-crusher-Garner-crusher — SEM Model 0101 HDD Crusher

Today, there are many different hard drive shredders available for any application. These shredders can destroy between 50 and 3,500 drives an hour. The particle size you can choose from based on your security requirements can be anywhere from 3/4’”to 1-1/2” wide by random length. Hard drive shredders like these can quickly, efficiently and securely take whole drives and turn them instantly into highly recyclable metal scrap, making the drives unrecognizable and the information irretrievable.

More information about crushers and shredders can be found here.

fast-hard-drive-shredder — SEM Model 0305 HDD Shredder

Another major security concern for data centers is that many do not want to remove or transport the drives from the site or let anyone come on-site for HDD destruction. With some of the options shown above, destruction cab be completed in house and on-site to maintain the security of the site while meeting all destruction requirements. For smaller data centers that would not need a large full time device, many of these solutions are small enough to be shipped anywhere in the world from site to site as needed! This saves time, money and enhances a sites security by keeping contact with the data to internal personnel only.

As we have discussed, protecting the information and preventing unauthorized access to your obsolete drives and the information on them is the most critical element in managing your liability and reducing your risk. Many companies have already taken steps to prevent future problems. Will you be next?

See this video about how Google is tackling this challenge:

Is your company ready to maximize your hard drive security while minimizing the liability? If you have any additional questions about what solution is the best for you, SEM is here to help. Contact us today to ensure your data is destroyed safely, securely, and to all spec and regulations that need to be met.

Data Destruction from 1980-2014: a Retrospective

at 5:01 pm by SEM

After 34 years in the information destruction industry, I am finally riding off into retirement or to use a famous golf analogy, “I am on the back nine.”…..actually, I am on the 18^th hole walking toward the clubhouse. I would like to take a moment to reflect on the various changes in the shredding industry (if any) and mention a few of the accepted methods used today to destroy the most common forms of media.

What’s changed: Back in the early 80’s, or as far back as I can remember, the most common acceptable methods of destroying paper was incineration or disintegration. Both methods are still in use today but incineration is less common due to environmental restrictions and inconvenience. Back in the day, high security cross cut shredders were not yet approved for top secret level paper. Disintegrators, which pulverize paper into tiny bits, was the most common destruction method with most federal government organizations and private industry companies that were tied directly to the defense industry. Disintegrators were first introduced by SEM back in the mid 60’s and due to their ruggedness & versatility, are still used today to destroy a variety of media forms.

When classified top secret paper shredders finally arrived on the scene in the early 80’s, the approved shred size was 0.8 x 11.1 mm (1/32″ × 7/16″). Events in history, including the Iranian US Embassy hostage takeover and the episode with Colonel Oliver North shredding the Iran –Contra documents in the late 80’s, created a significant public awareness on document shredding.

In the mid 80’s, it was uncommon to see the general public or non-government companies shredding sensitive documents. In October 2008, the government established a new set of guidelines requiring an even smaller (1mm x 5mm) shred size for top secret paperwork. In government circles, this is referred to level 6 / P-7 or NSA approved.

What happened to the Paperless Society ? When microfiche arrived (are you old enough to remember micro fiche?), it was common to hear people say that we have finally entered a “ paperless society”. I remember how scary it was for a young sales guy to hear that statement, especially when you are trying to make your living selling paper shredders. From a security standpoint microforms, which included mostly micro fiche and 35mm film, created somewhat of a destruction issue due to the fact that it was a reduced image material that required extreme destruction standards. Imagine that, a whole book on one sheet of film. At the time, the government destruction standard for microforms was a dust-like particle. Back then, there were very few approved microfiche shredders on the market and they could only shred very small amounts at a time. It was a tediously slow process.

What hasn’t changed: So here we are in 2014. We have our high speed super computers storing information on a variety media including: CDs/ DVDs, data tapes, hard disk drives, solid state drives and all kinds of media too long to mention that is storing sensitive information. Even though these forms of media are supposed to reduce the amount of paper, the paperless society never materialized and paper is still here in force. The way in which information is stored may have changed but what has not changed are the methods to eliminate the information. In the end, whether its paper or optical disks or data tapes or hard drives, shredding is the most accepted method to delete the data.

I will now move on to another great challenge in life for me, breaking 100 (of course, I am referring to golf). See you at the 19^th hole!

OH the Places “we’ll go” !

at 4:59 pm by SEM

At a recent High School Graduation, the valedictorian read the famous Dr. Seuss poem “Oh the places you’ll go”. It made me think, where are the places we’ll go to serve our customers?

As a world-wide supplier of information destruction systems, SEM has not only sold solutions throughout the globe but installed and serviced many of them as well. Just this year alone, our service technicians have been in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Guam, Korea, Japan, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi…not to mention Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

In addition to SEM personnel traveling around the globe, we also have trained independent service technicians in a variety of countries. So, if we can’t do it ourselves, we’ve got local factory trained service technicians who can!

Since 1967, SEM has been providing solutions for over 50 years that can effectively eliminate or sanitize information on virtually every form of media. Many people forget that Information privacy is not just an American thing. It is as important in Boston or Los Angeles as it is in Brussels or Tokyo or Rome or Riyadh or just about anywhere throughout the globe. Our systems are applicable everywhere and even though most of them are virtually “plug and play” out of box solutions. If installation or service is needed, we’re ready to travel the world, or have one of our independent technicians assist you for your on-site needs.

So, if you have sensitive data residing on paper, hard drives, SSDs, optical media, or other like devices, and you’re looking for an effective solution to sanitize or eliminate it, SEM has a solution. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Michigan, Australia, Israel, Europe or South Africa, our solutions are available and applicable everywhere. So when Dr. Seuss asks SEM about the places you’ll go, it’s easy.

We’ll just about go anywhere.

For more information about SEM and our products contact us today.

Classified Data Destruction of Data on Legacy PCs

at 4:57 pm by SEM

Sometimes offices are hard to keep organized and clean.

Sure, we keep them clean and tidy them up in case the boss comes by but what about the areas that are not as visual, like our personal computers (PCs)? Just like our attic or garage, our PCs can get just (if not more) cluttered. One day it will be time to upgrade or change them and what is supposed to be done with all the data located on the device? Especially those PCs that hold classified or sensitive information. Files can’t just be deleted, because although you can’t see them, they are still there. So what is the correct way to destroy this information?

Offices and agencies upgrade computers quite often and classified files can’t just be deleted. Instead, files will need to be destroyed by approved government methods, controlled by the National Security Agency (NSA). For guidelines on how to effectively delete data on all forms of media, the NSA publishes a list of equipment that has those capabilities. This list, known as the NSA EPL (NSA Evaluated Product List) specifies which devices are approved for effective deletion of classified, CUI, and top secret data that resides on paper, optical disks, hard drives and other related media.

When offices upgrade their computers, most don’t know how to effectively dispose of them. They typically take the “out of sight/out of mind approach” and put them into a safe, closet or some other secure area for the next guy to worry about. Well, you were just notified of a VIP visit coming up soon and it’s time for a spring clean-up. Guess what? You happen to be the next guy and now it’s your responsibility to dispose of these systems and the classified data that resides on the hard drives.

The first step of destroying hard drives is to degauss them. What’s a degausser? Simply put, a degausser is a very powerful magnet that erases magnetic media (i.e. hard disk drives). For destroying classified hard drives, the degausser must be approved and tested by the NSA and be on their Evaluated Products Listing (EPL). Once you procure an approved degausser (like those found at SEM), you must additionally physically destroy this drive. This can be done using a drill press, or even a sledgehammer. However, easier and more effective options would be to purchase a hard drive crusher or a hard drive shredder.

Once the drive is degaussed and destroyed the information is now officially destroyed to NSA standards. Never worry about discarding legacy PCs again and remember SEM is always here for consultation or help regarding secure data destruction.

If You Don’t Shred It, You Might Regret It!

December 10, 2013 at 3:45 pm by SEM

This kind of story has replayed thousands of time across our country,
and many people are rightly concerned about their online security.
However, many overlook securing their paperwork. Shredding is a simple, but vital step to safeguarding sensitive paperwork before it ends up in a dumpster. Dumpster diving
is still a major way that identity thieves get the information that can ruin
your life! Simply make sure it is shredded properly with a cross-cut
shredder- shred anything that has a name or an address on it-no
exceptions-even junk mail!

The story below is a classic case of what happens when your discarded
papers give access to an identity thief. This particular story was reported
by the local ABC News affiliate in Tampa, FL about a year ago.

With all the warnings these days to protect your identity when you’re online, John Champion never thought the old tried-and-true method of what police say was dumpster diving by a convicted identity thief could still cause so much trouble.

“There were 12 accounts opened in my name,” Champion recalls. It was a phone call from a detective at the St. Petersburg Police Department that tipped him off, but by that time, it was too late.

In the world of credit, Champion had a good name with an excellent
credit score. Until St. Petersburg Police say 49-year-old Brian Katacinski
found Champion’s vital information in the trash and went to town.

They claim he not only wrecked Champion’s credit, but 12 other victims by opening credit cards and bank accounts in their names. “My credit score went from 748 to 522 in five month’s time,” he says with a look of disbelief on his face.

St. Pete police say when Katacinski didn’t want to get his hands dirty, he cased home mailboxes in the city’s Old Northeast section, looking for outgoing mail stuffed with bills that he knew would be rich with checks and credit card numbers he could duplicate.

Police say Katacinski had plenty of practice. He was busted by federal postal inspectors in 2006 for the same thing. When they arrested him inside his St. Pete motel room this time, investigators say they found several credit cards and check-making materials. Then there were the multiple duplicate drivers’ licenses of his alleged victims.

“Unfortunately, our criminals have the ability to drive around all day and look for those particular signs. Whether your flag is up at a curbside mailbox or your letters are stacking up out of your mailbox,” says St. Pete Sgt. Kevin Smith.

Champion says he was able to recoup some of his lost credit. But all of this was a lesson for him. And he hopes for others. “Shred your paperwork. Don’t put anything out there that’s got your name on it,” he says. And detectives say when it comes to your bills, never put them in your outgoing mail. And better yet, pay them online.

SEM-paper-shredders — A wide variety of SEM NSA rated paper shredders

Another victim that that could have easily been prevented! John Champion would agree that a good offense is shredding your paper before anyone ever has the chance to see any of your personal data. It is far better than dealing with the ongoing effects of identity theft after it occurs.

Check out some of SEM’s cross cut paper shredders now.

Remember: Shred It; So You Won’t Regret It!

Have a Disintegrator? Add a Briquettor and Recycle the Waste!

at 11:18 am by SEM

One of the challenges that agencies or organizations are faced with is the growing need to recycle anything that should or can be recycled: bottles, paper, cans, plastics, ink cartridges, metal, and more! The need to recycle is expanding within both government and commercial industry.

Organizations that utilize disintegrators to destroy sensitive information, specifically paper, have not been able to recycle the waste due to the very small particle sizes once shredded. Recycling companies have difficulty handling the shredded paper because it is so fine. A briquettor can help solve this issue by compacting the fine shredded material into larger briquettes which makes it recycle friendly. Several organizations are currently recycling their shredded paper using this process leading to cost reductions and increasing their recycling goals.

There are a few ways to get started. First, contact SEM for green solutions and briquetting options. Next is to contact your base recycling center or contracted recycling company to see about recycling options. In most cases, they can accept the briquettes and bale them like other paper products. Base recycling centers at military facilities are often happy to take the briquettes and in many cases will haul the waste free of charge. Base recyclers are also eager to take on more waste to recycle as they are incentivized to increase their program and meet and exceed their recycling goals. This in turn can help with meeting both federal and organizations personal environmental goals. The federal government has already issued requirements that all capital purchases must be made with an eye on environmental impact.

Organizations that use a briquettes will see a 9:1 reduction of waste that can lead to elimination or decrease of hauling costs. It can also help positively impact corporate environmental goals.

SEM has briquettors that can be retrofitted to a disintegrator that is currently in service. An example would be if you are currently utilizing a Model 1012 disintegrator for shredding paper, SEM can provide a briquettor upgrade package to fit your needs. Just contact a representative.

DARPA Impossible Shredder Challenge…Solved

December 8, 2011 at 10:37 am by SEM

In late October 2011, DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) issued a challenge to computer scientists with a $50,000 reward if they could reconstruct shredded pages of paper.

The following excerpt from the DARPA Shredder Challenge website describes the competition.

Today’s troops often confiscate the remnants of destroyed documents in war zones, but reconstructing them is a daunting task. DARPA’s Shredder Challenge called upon computer scientists, puzzle enthusiasts and anyone else who likes solving complex problems to compete for up to $50,000 by piecing together a series of shredded documents.

The goal was to identify and assess potential capabilities that could be used by our warfighters operating in war zones, but might also create vulnerabilities to sensitive information that is protected through our own shredding practices throughout the U.S. national security community.

The Shredder Challenge was comprised of five separate puzzles in which the number of documents, the document subject matter and the method of shredding were varied to present challenges of increasing difficulty. To complete each problem, participants were required to provide the answer to a puzzle embedded in the content of the reconstructed document.

The challenge began on October 27, 2011 and concluded on December 2, 2011 after all five puzzles were successfully solved by a team of three computer programmers from San Francisco.

The San Francisco team additionally offered some insight into how they solved Puzzle #4.

The team used a combination manual/automated approach to solve the challenge puzzles. The first 3 were solved within the first 2 weeks of the challenge. After that, the team was stumped by puzzle #4. The difficulty was due to the fact that the words were irregularly spaced and written on unlined paper. By chance, one of the team members read an article about a little known government project that encouraged manufacturers of color laser printers to place tiny imperceptible yellow dots on printed pages so that the machine that printed them could be tracked. The team used a blue light filter and were able to see the dots. They credit those dots for giving them a road map of how to put the document together. A road map that ultimately led them to share in a $50,000 prize.

For more on the use of printer dots, read this article from USA Today:

“Printer dots raise privacy concerns”

To read more about how they did it check out these articles:

DARPA’s Almost Impossible Challenge to Reconstruct Shredded Documents: Solved

Team Claims $50,000 for Decoding Shredded Messages

Team Wins $50K, Restores 5 Shredded DARPA Docs in 33 Days

Destroying Classified Magnetic Media: Outsource or In-House?

November 30, 2011 at 9:34 am by SEM

When it comes to eliminating classified magnetic media, a government IT security manager must establish a process that ensures the media is properly destroyed and disposed of. To some, the options may be limited in getting this done. As required by NSA, classified magnetic media must be degaussed using an NSA evaluated degausser and then it is highly recommended to physically destroy the device. Most agencies will choose to eliminate their classified magnetic media in one of two ways, in-house or outsource. These options are usually weighed based on cost, volume, and level of security.

Agencies that eliminate their magnetic media in-house will purchase the necessary equipment and create a program to perform the destruction on-site. In most cases, security managers prefer in-house destruction because the media is never transported outside classified areas, where it is at risk to be lost or breached. Although these programs require agencies to purchase equipment up-front for their program, it eliminates the cost of having to coordinate high security transportation of the media, including cleared escorts and secure transportation. They can also take advantage of the high recyclable value of various magnetic storage drives.

While agencies can choose to outsource their magnetic media destruction, often by sending it to the NSA or another classified agency with in-house capabilities, it is both risky and more costly. Why? Outsourcing requires a scheduled secure shipment and cleared escorts every time the media leaves the classified area for transport. This process can be expensive and time consuming. Since it can be difficult at times for an IT security department to secure up-front funds for their own equipment, agencies find it easier to spend less money for each shipment and stay within their monthly operating budget. However, many agencies justify creating their own in-house program by weighing the long term costs vs. buying their own equipment. Outsourcing can also add unnecessary security risks by transporting the media outside of classified areas.

To get a more in depth understanding of finding the best data decommissioning policy, read SEM’s whitepaper on the topic here.

Understanding Dual Stage Destruction – Is it Right For You?

December 21, 2010 at 2:34 pm by SEM

SEM DUAL STAGE systems are just that, a two stage destruction system consisting of both a primary and secondary destruction device. A heavy duty bulk pre-shredder serves as the primary stage, allowing for over sized items such as rolled architectural drawings, full burn bags, large manuals, and high volumes of bulky material to be reduced in size. This allows for the secondary stage, consisting of a rotary knife mill disintegrator, to more easily and effectively reduce the waste down to its final NSA evaluated particle size. By utilizing a pre-shredder as the primary stage, a smaller more energy efficient disintegrator can be utilized for the secondary stage. Additionally, the 5 bladed solid rotors achieve more throughput with less HP than open rotor designs through increased cutting inertia and more cuts per rotation.

Why it might be right for you:

Single stage destruction systems require much larger disintegrators and more HP in order to destroy the same volumes and thicknesses of material. As with all single stage systems, many items have to be sorted, resorted, and then reduced in thickness prior to destruction, which can ultimately be unproductive. Dual stage systems can easily handle these applications, and are simply the fastest, most efficient way to destroy classified bulk material. Why spend all the extra work sorting and pre-shredding the items yourself prior to destruction? Let the dual stage system do the work.

Dual stage systems also prevent overfeeding and system jams. Anyone familiar with disintegration knows that misuse of the machine and overfeeding can cause a jam. Instead, using a pre-shredder will allow the material to be greatly reduced with less energy and work for the machine. This also saves disintegrator blade wear at the same time.

A dual stage system is a security solution designed to destroy a high volume of bulk material that is energy efficient and significantly reduces the time your organization spends on destruction. For the less time you have to spend on destruction at any volume, the more time you’ll have to build something else.

SEM dual stage disintegrators have been evaluated by NSA and meet the requirements of NSA/CSS Evaluated Products List for Paper Disintegrators for paper, key tape and CDs.

Understanding the Electrical Requirements of Shredders

at 2:09 pm by SEM

When researching and selecting a paper shredder the first instinct is to find a shredder that will produce the right particle size to suit regulatory requirements. But not only does the shredder need to produce the correct particle size, but it also needs to be powered properly. If not powered properly the shredder will not run effectively or possibly not at all. Shredders utilize electricity from the wall to run an electrical motor inside the shredder. This electrical motor is rated by horsepower (HP).

Single Phase Motor 120 Volt, 60Cycle Motor

Horsepower of Motor (HP)	Current Full Load Amperes (AMP)
.25	4
.50	6
.75	8
1.0	10
1.5	14
2.0	18
2.15	19
2.5	22

Note: Values above are ballpark figures and are not considered absolute limits.

Above in the chart are examples of shredders that will be powered by 110-120 volt power sources in North America. Let’s break up the motors above into different groups and outline their power source requirements as follows:

Group 1 (Paper shredder with a 1.0 hp motor or less) This shredder can be plugged into any standard 110/120 volt 15 amp receptacle and can have other items on the same circuit as long as the total between all items does not exceed the 15 amps.

Group 2 (Paper shredder with a motor greater than 1.0 hp and equal to or less than 1.5 hp) This shredder should be plugged into a 20 amp receptacle and can have other items on the same circuit as long as the total between all items does not exceed the 20 amps.

Group 3 (Paper shredder with a motor greater that 1.5 hp and less than or equal to 2.15 hp) This shredder should be plugged into a 20 amp dedicated circuit for best performance.

What exactly is a 20 amp dedicated circuit? What this means is the power feeding this shedder should be one line with a wire of 12 gauge thickness or thicker (smaller the number gauge the thicker the wire) coming directly from the circuit breaker to the receptacle. This line/wire should only be feeding this receptacle and nothing else. Another thing to consider is the length of the line. The shorter the length of the line the less voltage drop. You do not want your voltage drop to be more than 5 percent (Example: 120 volt line with a 5 % drop = 114 volts). If there is too great of a voltage drop or insufficient voltage then your line is too long, the gauge wire may be too thin and or you do not have a dedicated line and there are other receptacles running off this line.

In summary, a well researched paper shredder may meet all of the technical requirements needed, but always ensure the electrical requirements and or horsepower of the shredders motor are met as well. Know ahead of time where it may be plugged in and or get an electrician involved to understand what is required to obtain the proper power. If the power source is insufficient you will not get the throughput the unit has been rated for, the shredder may also get jammed, stall, or overheat. If additional help is needed selecting the right shredder and or understanding the power requirements for your shredder SEM is here to help, fill out a request and we can get find the perfect solution!

SEM Shred

Category: Blog