Re: securely disposing of old backup tapes?

["Bristol, Gary L." <gbristol () OU EDU>]

I don't think your suppose to stand that close.

When I was associated with the DISA and the Air Force, I believe the
process was;

1. Deguass with a device such as you mention
2. Strip the tape off of the reel into a burn bag.
3. Take the burn bag to an incinerator and destroy.
        This last step usually required the presence of two people.

Each step is documented.

-----Original Message-----
From: Cal Frye [mailto:cjf () CALFRYE COM] 
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 4:32 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] securely disposing of old backup tapes?

We have an awfully big degausser we use that also removes the magnetic
tracking
data -- our drives can't even format the tapes again after that thing is
done
with 'em. Loosens up your fillings, too.

--Cal Frye, Network Administrator, Oberlin College
 www.ouuf.org, www.calfrye.com
GnuPG ID 43061C16, Public key http://www.calfrye.com/cfrye.asc

  "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. " -
Elvis
Presley (1935-1977?)


Drake, Craig wrote:
> I was wondering if anybody has any policies and/or procedures in place
> for securely disposing of old backup tapes?  Are there any known rules
> or regulations for public universities or state entities regarding the
> disposal of this backup media?  Does anybody have any recommendations
> for products or procedures for destroying backup media? Any other
> thoughts would also be helpful!