Degaussing and Data Destruction
If you use computer hard drives, file servers or backup tapes to store personal or financial data, it’s essential that you deal with them securely when the time comes to discard or upgrade them. Shred Station® offer a Degaussing and Data Destruction service to ensure data is no longer recoverable.
What is degaussing?
Degaussing is a pre-destruction process often used by governments and military forces around the globe. It is the process of securely sanitising magnetic media that contains sensitive information to render the data irretrievable.
Data thieves can sometimes recover and read digital data even after it’s been deleted or overwritten. Degaussing uses a powerful magnetic field to completely remove the data so that it can never be read again.
Products recommended for this process are removable magnetic media such as hard drives, backup tapes and floppy disks.
Degaussing service
We can carry out degaussing either at your offices, with our mobile unit, or at our own secure premises.
We use a machine that is approved by both NATO and the UK government. It also meets the standards set by both the US Department of Defence and the National Security Agency.
Degaussing & shredding
Some companies and agencies prefer their data to be erased before digital media are destroyed. To meet this need, we can offer a combined degaussing & shredding service.
This service is available on-site, off-site or in any combination. For example, companies or agencies using our off-site destruction service may prefer degaussing on-site before the media is transported for destruction at our depots. Or we can perform degaussing and shredding on-site.
Our services are flexible and we tailor the service to meet your requirements.
Shredding for non-magnetic digital media
Degaussing only works for magnetic media. Data on CDs, DVDs, USB sticks, mobile phones and modern flash drives cannot be destroyed by degaussing.
To make sure data on these devices cannot be recovered, you’ll need our Hard Drive & Digital Media Destruction service.
Shredding digital media physically destroys the item so it can never be used again and the data is completely beyond recovery.
As with degaussing, we can shred digital devices at your premises or at ours.
To talk through your requirements with a specialist in secure data destruction and work out which services you need, please contact us.