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NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 · MP-6

Media Sanitization

US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) · cited in 10 of our lessons

Explanation

What it asks for. System media must be sanitised before disposal, release from organisational control or reuse, using techniques and procedures appropriate to the information's security category.

In practice. Doing this well means a sanitisation standard aligned with NIST SP 800-88, using secure erase, cryptographic erase or physical destruction depending on media type and sensitivity, and certified disposal providers. Auditors expect the standard, sanitisation or destruction certificates and asset records showing each device's disposal. Cloud and virtual storage depend on provider assurances and cryptographic erase, which should be documented.

Common gaps. Devices returned at end of lease or sent for repair are often not sanitised. Disposal certificates are frequently not matched against the asset inventory, so missing devices go unnoticed. Multifunction printers and network devices with internal storage are often forgotten.

Open SP 800-53 at NIST
The official text
a. Sanitize [Assignment: organization-defined organization-defined system media] prior to disposal, release out of organizational control, or release for reuse using [Assignment: organization-defined organization-defined sanitization techniques and procedures] ; and b. Employ sanitization mechanisms with the strength and integrity commensurate with the security category or classification of the information. Discussion: Media sanitization applies to all digital and non-digital system media subject to disposal or reuse, whether or not the media is considered removable. Examples include digital media in scanners, copiers, printers, notebook computers, workstations, network components, mobile devices, and non-digital media (e.g., paper and microfilm). The sanitization process removes information from system media such that the information cannot be retrieved or reconstructed. Sanitization techniques—including clearing, purging, cryptographic erase, de-identification of personally identifiable information, and destruction—prevent the disclosure of information to unauthorized individuals when such media is reused or released for disposal. Organizations determine the appropriate sanitization methods, recognizing that destruction is sometimes necessary when other methods cannot be applied to media requiring sanitization. Organizations use discretion on the employment of approved sanitization techniques and procedures for media that contains information deemed to be in the public domain or publicly releasable or information deemed to have no adverse impact on organizations or individuals if released for reuse or disposal. Sanitization of non-digital media includes destruction, removing a classified appendix from an otherwise unclassified document, or redacting selected sections or words from a document by obscuring the redacted sections or words in a manner equivalent in effectiveness to removing them from the document. NSA standards and policies control the sanitization process for media that contains classified information. NARA policies control the sanitization process for controlled unclassified information.

From NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, a work of the US government in the public domain.

Lessons that cite it

Real incidents where this item mattered.