BITRASER^®Data Erasure Standards

The US Department of Defense method, when published, specified a process of overwriting hard disk drives (HDDs) with patterns of ones and zeroes. It is based on overwriting the addressable memory locations in hard disk drives with ‘zeroes’ and ‘ones’ as the binary patterns. The standard defines the implementation of three secure overwriting passes with verification at the end of each Pass. Pass 1 involves overwriting with binary zeroes, Pass 2 with binary ones, and Pass 3 with a random bit pattern.
Though used widely in the past, modern standards like NIST 800-88 Rev. 1 suggest fewer overwrite passes or crypto-erase for better speed and the same level of security. Even the NISPOM manual refers to NIST 800-88 for extra guidance on sanitization.
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Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, DoD 5200.28-STD, was issued in 1985, under the Security Requirements for Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Systems or the DoD Directive 5200.28. The 7 Pass method first overwrites with 01010101. The second overwrite is performed with 10101010. This cycle is repeated three times in 6 Passes. The final 7th Pass involves overwriting with random characters.

IEEE 2883:2022 Purge is another media sanitization method outlined by the IEEE 2883:2022. Purge uses physical and/or logical techniques that render data recovery infeasible, even with state-of-the-art laboratory techniques. It includes commands like overwriting all addressable & non-addressable locations, Block Erase, and Cryptographic Erase. 
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The Schneier algorithm was developed by Bruce Schneier, as it appeared in his book Applied Cryptography in the year 1994. The process consists of seven Passes in which overwriting is done with ‘one’ and ‘zero’ in the first 2 Passes and is succeeded by 5 pseudo-random Passes. The method differs from the US DoD and German VSITR in terms of its overwriting sequence during different Passes. Bruce Schneier's algorithm is considered one of the most secure and reliable methods for data erasure.

This algorithm was developed in 1996 by Peter Gutmann. The Peter Gutmann algorithm works by overwriting some pseudo-random values 35 times with 35 Passes or overwriting cycles. Gutmann algorithm uses random values for the first & last 4 passes, and it employs a complex pattern in the passes that lie in the range of 5 to 31. It is one of the most effective data erasure methods, although very time-consuming.

This method is based on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization standard (NATO). With 7 Passes, it overwrites a file 7 times. It is not as secure as the DoD-7 method, as it only defines one random pass. It is yet considered secure for wiping general-use files.

The Pfitzner Method was developed by and is named after Roy Pfitzner. According to Pfitzner, data might be able to be retrieved if it’s written only 20 times. It is a little complex algorithm with a 33-pass option and the ability to run the entire program multiple times. Verification also occurs along the way, and like the Gutmann method, it uses a combination of random characters for each Pass. There are options for both a 7-Pass and a 33-Pass program.

The HMG IS5 sanitization method was first defined in a sensitive information document published by the Communications Electronics Security Group as part of the National Cyber Security Centre. This data sanitization algorithm is used by the British government. British HMG IS5 (Baseline) incorporates overwriting with 1 Pass, where it involves 1 overwriting cycle with zeroes. Finally, verification of the overwriting is done.
HMG IS5 has been officially deprecated by the UK NCSC, which now advises organizations to follow OFFICIAL-LEVEL secure sanitisation procedures under the NCSC CPA framework. Baseline IS5 remains available for compatibility with legacy systems.

It is one of the fastest wiping schemes. It incorporates overwriting with 1 Pass, where it involves 1 overwriting cycle with zeroes. Software-based overwriting with a stream of zeroes has been the simplest method of Permanent data erasure. By overwriting the data on the storage device, the data is rendered unrecoverable and achieves data sanitization. 
This method is often used in low-risk environments and is supported by various industry tools due to its speed. However, for high-security needs, multi-pass or cryptographic erasure methods are recommended.
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This data sanitization method was developed by the US Navy in the year 1993. It destroys the data in 3 passes with Pass 1 involving overwriting with a specified character, Pass 2 involving overwriting with the complement of the specified character on the drive, and final Pass 3 overwriting with a random character. Finally, verification of the overwriting is done.

Pseudo-Random and Zeroes method is a process of overwriting hard disk drives (HDDs) with patterns of random characters and zeros. It is based on overwriting the addressable memory locations in hard disk drives with ‘random characters’ and ‘ones’ as the binary patterns. The standard defines the implementation of two secure overwriting Passes. Pass 1 involves overwriting with random numbers, and Pass 2 with zeroes.

This standard for data sanitization was created by Stellar. BitRaser Secure & SSD Erasure performs Secure Erasure, Crypto Erasure, or Block Erasure on SSDs and HDDs based on the method supported by the drive. If the drive does not support any of the above-mentioned erasure technologies, the standard will perform a 3-pass overwrite on the media.

Stellar BitRaser also allows you to create your own algorithm, based on your defined writing pattern and the number of passes that you would like to overwrite the pattern with.