Media Control Guidelines for Duke System Administrators
Duke system administrators are responsible for data security operations on the workstations and servers they manage. Machines which are
sent to Duke Surplus and Salvage are cleaned using a new procedure which is in the process of being documented. All decommissioned
institutional machines should be sent to Duke Surplus for disposal. Following are guidelines for wiping non-Duke machines:
- If the computer will not power up, powers up but will not run a disk erasing tool, or is deemed to have zero resale value,
the hard drive is removed and two each, 1/4 inch holes are drilled through the platters (all the way through the hard drive).
The drive and remains of the computer are sold for their s value.
- Computers that have LOW resale value have KILLDISK run (3 passes), the drives are formatted and DOS is loaded. The systems
are then sold "as is".
- Computers that have a HIGH resale value have KILLDISK run (3 passes), the drives are formatted, Windows 98 or Red Hat 7.2 is
loaded, and a modem is installed. The systems are then resold to the general public.
- Any system of either LOW or HIGH value that is beyond economical repair will have the hard drive removed and drilled.
Tools
Active@Killdisk Hard Drive Eraser
Platforms: DOS, Windows 95/98, Windows NT/2000/XP, Linux, Unix for PC
(free and licensed versions available at http://www.killdisk.com/eraser.htm)
Active@Killdisk conforms to the US Department of Defense's clearing and sanitizing standard DoD 5220.22-M.
East-Tec Eraser 2004 by EAST Technologies
Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows XP
Relevant URL: http://www.east-tec.com/eraser/index.htm
East-Tec Eraser ("Eraser" in short) is an advanced security application for Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP designed
to help you completely eliminate sensitive data from your computer and protect your computer and Internet privacy.
Using Eraser on a file wipes its contents beyond recovery, scrambling its name and dates and finally removing
it from disk. Eraser offers tight integration with the Windows shell, so you can drag files and folders from Explorer
and drop them in Eraser, or you can erase them directly from Explorer by selecting Erase beyond recovery from the context menu.
Secure Hard Disk Eraser http://www.linux-kurser.dk/secure_harddisk_eraser.html
Secure Hard Disk Eraser is an open source application that overwrites a harddisk with different patterns. It implements 35 or 3 passes on a single floppy. Just boot from the floppy, wait 60 seconds and the harddisk
will start to erase. When the erasure is done the computer will beep every second. This makes it possible to erase computers without
having a monitor attached. To make sure the erasure is successful you should try rebooting the machine.
Local copy of the 35 pass hard disk eraser
Local copy of the 3 pass hard disk eraser
Darik's Boot and Nuke http://dban.sourceforge.net/
DBAN is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN is open source and will work on
DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, or Linux, and also meets the DoD cleaning and sanitizing standard.
For Macs, Disk Utility, which comes free with OS X from Apple (in Applications > Utilities), will give you several options for erasing the hard drive.
