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Five Levels of Optical Media Destruction Security
Cross cut shredding for Optical Media

Cross cut shredding doesn’t assure that data can’t be recovered

Key References:

  • Destroying optical media beyond forensic recovery
  • NIST special publication 800-88 media sanitization guidelines
 There is a significant difference among methods used to destroy the electronic data stored on CD-ROM, DVD’s and similar optical media. Although many people are content to cut or shred their CD’s, the fact is forensic recovery experts can retrieve data for optical media that have been “destroyed” using most conventional methods.

In practice, these processes fall into the following categories.

1. Dimpling: A process which puts a square impression on the surface of the discs.
2. Strip Cut Shredding: A modified paper shredder which cuts straight across the length or width of the discs in various sizes, the smallest being about 7mm and the largest being about 3cm.

3. Cross Cut Shredding: A modified paper shredder which cuts squares or rectangles in various lengths and widths the smallest being @ 5mm by 5mm and the largest being about 2cm.
4. Disintegration: Used for currency destruction; a cross cut type of process which in currency produces rectangle or square pieces about 4mm by 4mm of old dollar bills.
5. Grinding: A process which grinds the entire coating layers and chemical substrate from the surface of the discs. In the case of DVDs, they must first be split, and then ground.

GRINDING IS THE ONLY METHOD THAT ASSURES COMPLETE DATA DESTRUCTION

The release of NIST’s “Guidelines for Media Sanitization has established that only the grinding method destroys data beyond the possibility of forensic recovery. In addition, the high quality polycarbonate disk is recyclable.