E
lectronic data shredding or ‘e-shredding’ is a phrase used to describe the
process of permanently removing electronic data from digital devices. This
technology is often compared to paper document shredding, but on a digital
level. The fundamental concept is that the data is overwritten in such a way
that makes it impossible to retrieve or reconstruct it.
e-shredding offers companies, in a variety of industries, a stronger level of digital
security and sensitive information protection. Product manager of the Wide
Format Printing Systems division of Océ South Africa, Chris Paulet, said, ‘All
organisations must ask themselves whether the documents they print, copy,
and scan are confidential in nature or for use only by specific parties.
‘Most print devices store submitted digital data (prints, copies, and scans) that
could potentially be recovered by unauthorised parties. When data is deleted in
a conventional manner, the information is not completely erased and may still be
recovered with software. The delete function in most operating systems merely
removes the traditional access to the file, but does not immediately remove
the content data. This means that data can be recovered fairly easily with
the right tools.
‘Océ uses e-shredding technology in its wide format print, copy, and scan
systems. It is an easy to implement and use feature that can help your
organisation protect non-public information from prying eyes by immediately
overwriting data after the job is processed to ensure your data is secure
and no longer available for recovery at all.’
Océ offers a number of overwrite algorithms for increased e-shredding
functionality, with standards that vary by country. Gutmann is a common
electronic data shredding technology algorithm; this e-shredding technology
erases data by utilising 35 overwrite passes. Each overwrite session is the
equivalent to four random write patterns, immediately followed by 27 specific
patterns executed in a random order. After that, a lead-out of four more random
patterns is performed to ensure results.
US Department of Defense 5220.22-M is a three-pass overwriting algorithm,
which is generally regarded as the highest level standard for sanitation to counter
data remanence. It meets US Department of Defense requirements for disk media
deletion. Alternatively, for ultimate control, some systems administrators prefer
to customise their e-shredding technology and personally set the number of
overwrite passes manually. This digital security measure is a tailored solution
for many businesses worried about security breaches.
Once e-shredding has been enabled on an Océ device, it deletes the job in the
following scenarios: when it is manually deleted from a Smart Inbox; after it was
successfully printed and was not saved in a Smart Inbox; after a ‘ScanToFile to
external location’ has been successfully performed; after a ‘ScanToFile to USB
stick’ has been performed successfully or not; when it is automatically deleted
after a time-out (when the end of the job lifetime in the Smart Inbox is reached);
when a ‘clear system’ is performed on the printer user panel; or when a ‘clear
system at next start-up’ is selected in Express WebTools and the system
is restarted.
‘When many different users have unregulated access to the system, electronic
data shredding technology can become a vital part of your digital security,’
Paulet concluded.
Océ South Africa: Chris Paulet,
+27 (0)11 661 9555/9540
,
Vol 4 Issue 3 • OCÉ’S E-SHREDDING TECHNOLOGY SAFEGUARDS SENSITIVE DATA
Océ’s e-shredding technology
safeguards sensitive data
A major challenge within today’s ‘data sensitive’ environments is the unauthorised access of residual information,
despite attempts to erase secure data from digital devices. This is due to the fact that the delete function in
most operating systems simply marks the space occupied by the file as reusable (removes the pointer to the file)
but does not immediately remove the content data. Under this scenario, data can be recovered fairly easily.
38
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The GAPP
magazine
www.
thegapp
.co.za
