ISC2 CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)Asset SecurityMedium
A healthcare organization is decommissioning several servers that contain electronic protected health information (ePHI). According to NIST SP 800-88 Revision 1 guidelines, which data sanitization method is most appropriate to ensure that the data cannot be retrieved by any known technology, given the sensitive nature of the information and the need for absolute destruction?
- APurging
- BClearing
- CDestruction
- DDegaussing
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Destruction
According to NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1, 'Destruction' renders data recovery impossible by physically destroying the media. This is the most secure method for highly sensitive data like ePHI when absolute destruction is required.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Purging renders data unrecoverable with state-of-the-art laboratory techniques but still leaves the media potentially reusable, which is not 'absolute destruction'.
- B. Clearing involves overwriting data multiple times, which may not be sufficient for highly sensitive data against advanced recovery techniques.
- D. Degaussing is a form of purging specific to magnetic media; it does not guarantee absolute destruction for all media types or against all attacks.
NIST SP 800-88 Data Sanitization
Guidelines for securely erasing data from storage media, categorizing methods into Clear, Purge, and Destroy, based on the level of protection required.
- Clear: Overwriting, protects against simple recovery.
- Purge: Renders data unrecoverable by laboratory techniques.
- Destroy: Physically renders media unusable, absolute data destruction.
Memory trick: Clear for Casual, Purge for Pro, Destroy for Danger.