AssetCenter
Certificate of data destruction
Make a printable certificate of data destruction for the hard drives, laptops and phones you wipe or destroy, listing each device by asset tag and serial number with the method, the NIST 800-88 level and signatures. Use the same checklist to review a certificate a vendor gives you.
In the print dialog, set the scale to 100% or Actual size. Choose Save as PDF as the printer to keep a copy.
What a certificate of data destruction should show
A certificate of data destruction is a signed record that specific storage devices were sanitized or destroyed, by a stated method, on a stated date, by a named person. It is what you show an auditor, a customer or a regulator who asks what happened to the data on equipment you retired. A useful one includes:
- Each device by serial number. “40 laptops” or a weight in pounds proves nothing about any one laptop. A line per device, with its asset tag and serial, can be matched to your register.
- The method and the level it achieves. “Wiped” is not a method. Name what was done, such as an overwrite, a firmware secure erase or shredding, and the NIST 800-88 level it meets.
- The tool or equipment. The erasure software and version, or the shredder and its particle size, so the method can be checked later.
- How the result was verified. Re-reading each drive, or a sample, after erasure is what turns “we ran the software” into evidence.
- Custody. Who had the devices between leaving your hands and being sanitized, and where the work was done.
- A unique number, a date and signatures. The person who did the work signs, and a witness who saw it signs too.
Clear, Purge and Destroy
NIST Special Publication 800-88 groups sanitization into three methods. Clear uses ordinary read and write commands, such as a single overwrite pass or a manufacturer’s factory reset, and protects against simple recovery tools. Purge makes recovery infeasible even with laboratory techniques while leaving the device reusable; firmware secure erase and cryptographic erase are examples. Destroy leaves the media unusable: shredding, disintegration, pulverizing, melting or incineration. Revision 2 calls the record a certificate of sanitization and expects an organization’s sanitization policy to say what it must contain.
Match the method to the media. Revision 2 treats degaussing as a purge technique for magnetic media only; it can fail on the flash memory in an SSD, a hybrid drive or a phone. Multi-pass overwriting, the old seven-pass routine, is no longer needed and wears out flash media. A quick reformat of a computer’s drive is not sanitization at all.
When a vendor destroys the devices
Compare the vendor’s certificate with the list of what you handed over before you file it. It should name each device or drive by serial, not just count them, and state the method, the date and who did the work. The US Environmental Protection Agency points to R2 and e-Stewards certified recyclers for electronics, but a vendor’s certification is no substitute for checking that the certificate covers your devices.
The asset disposal guide covers the approvals and records around the whole disposal, and the employee offboarding checklist covers getting devices back before they are wiped.
Certificate of data destruction FAQ
A signed record that specific storage devices were sanitized or destroyed, saying how, when, where and by whom. NIST SP 800-88 calls it a certificate of sanitization. It is the evidence you keep when equipment that held data leaves your organization.
Few laws ask for one by name. Rules such as the HIPAA Security Rule, the FTC Disposal Rule and the GDPR require data to be disposed of securely, and a certificate listing each device is the usual way to show that it was. Customer contracts and audits often ask for one directly.
Yes. A certificate is a record of what was done, not a licence. Name the person who did the work and a witness, record the software or equipment used and how the result was checked, and keep it with the asset records.
It depends on the device. A factory reset counts as Clear under NIST SP 800-88 when the device cannot be overwritten, which suits low-sensitivity data. Phones and tablets that encrypt storage by default discard the key when reset, which works as a cryptographic erase. A quick reformat of a computer’s drive leaves data that recovery software can read.
No. The certificate is made and printed in your browser. Your organization’s details and usual method are remembered on this device; the device list and names are not.
Keep the certificate with the asset
In AssetCenter, decommission a device as Recycled or Retired and attach the certificate to that timeline entry, so the asset’s record shows when it left, how, and the proof. Free for up to 25 assets.