NIST 800-88 Rev. 1

Media Sanitization Procedures

NIST 800-88, published by the National Institute for Standards and Technology, is known for its media sanitization categories of Clear, Purge and Destroy. Its principles can apply to magnetic, flash-based, and other storage technologies. And, it can cover everything from mobile devices and USB drives to servers.

The latest update, NIST 800-88 Rev. 1, is one of the most widely used data sanitization standards requested or required by the U.S. Federal government, and its adoption has spread to countless private businesses and organizations with principles incorporated into international standard ISO/IEC 27040:2015

The goal is to effectively sanitize media so that any and all data is irretrievable once the data or data storage device reaches end-of-life. It's principles come into play whether a media asset is moving from a high level of confidential protection in one department to another, less secure department within the same organization, or whether that device is destined to leave the organization entirely.