US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard – Complete Data Erasure

Summary: If you are here to know about the US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard? Then, you are at the right page. Moving ahead, read this guide to know the complete information about US DoD 5220.22-M and get the practical implementation of these standards to derive its functionality.

The Implementation of this standard is very crucial in order to ensure data erasure effectively as they confine the overwritten patterns and passes set by government agencies. Different countries have their own data erasure standards. So, get into the details to know how it is implemented to ensure data security with the help of Department of Defence Data Erasure Software.

What is the US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Method?

The data erasure method is practiced worldwide by different government agencies, private organizations, to wipe media storage devices. This method was introduced by the U.S. Department of Defence in 1995 for those departments that require an extremely high level of security. It provides guidelines for erasing data from storage devices to ensure that your data cannot be recovered.

Reasons to Utilize US DoD 5220.22-M Wiping Standard

Why should the users use the US DoD 5220.22-M wipe method? Although there are different reasons that can be summarized for this situation given in below steps:

1. It is the global method which is practiced across the globe because it takes less time to run your system.
2. It is to ensure that sensitive data cannot be retrieved. It prevents the recovery of deleted information and ensures protection against unauthorized access.
3. US DoD 5220.22-M standard helps many organizations dealing with sensitive data in order to meet requirements for data protection.
4. It provides an extra layer of verification at the end of each pass. ensures that data is overwritten accurately. As this method uses random characters to overwrite storage locations, it also reduces the chances of data recovery.

Algorithms For US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard

Low Grade:-

•  Zero (1 Pass) – It Overwrites all the data on multiple storage devices with zeros in a single pass. This method is quick but less secure compared to multi-pass methods.
• Random (1 Pass) – Overwrites the data with random characters in a single pass. This provides a higher level of security than a zero pass.
• Wipe Simple (1 Pass) – Specific individual files can be targeted for overwriting in a single pass. This method is useful for erasing selected data without wiping the entire device.

Medium Grade:-

• Random & Zero (2 Passes) – It Combines one pass of random character followed by one pass of zero overwrite.
• US DoD / US Air Force (3 Passes) – Implement the DoD 5220.22-M standard by overwriting data with a specific pattern of zeros, ones, and random characters in three passes. This method is highly effective at erasing data.
• British HMG IS5 (3 Passes) – A three-pass overwrite method specified by the UK government. It overwrites data with a specific pattern, ensuring it meets British data protection standards.

High Grade:- 

• Russian – GOST-R-50739-95 (3 Passes) – The Russian government recognizes the data wipe standard. It involves three passes of data overwriting with predetermined patterns, with Russian data protection policy.
• NATO Standard (7 Passes) – A data wiping method that overwrites data seven times with various patterns. NATO recognizes it, and it provides a very high level of data security.
• Peter Gutmann (35 Passes) – It involves 35 passes of overwriting with a complex set of patterns. they designed it to ensure making recovery virtually impossible even for advanced forensic tools to retrieve the original data.

Techniques to Implement US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wiping Standard?

As we have discussed about the US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard. It is important to remember that policies of many federal, state and private firms require proper implementation of these data wipe standards. You can use an automated way to implement US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard using a professional tool SysTools Data Wipe Software which can be used to remove all data residue or classified spills and it overwrites complete data with different wipe standards and permanently erase data from multiple storage device leaving no scope for data recovery.

Noteworthy Features For Data Shredding Audit Software

There are certain quality features for this software which help to implement US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wipe Standard. let’s know about the features in described manner:

1. It has compliance with more than 20+ global standards including NIST, ISO, DoD and many more.
2. Overwrite complete data with different wipe methods ranging from single pass ( zero, random, wipe simple) to multi-pass ( US DoD, NATO, Peter Gutmann) which allows users to choose the layer of data erasure security they want.
3. This software helps in permanently erasing data from multiple storage devices.
4. Moreover, it removes all data residue or classified data spills.

Setbacks of US DoD 5220.22-M Data Wiping Standard

The Data Wipe Standard set the benchmark for the data wipe process, but other new standards like NIST SP 800-88 have replaced it due to its setbacks. Here are some main points to consider:

1. In order to clean the Flash memory we must enhance this wiping standard.
2. They designed it in such a way that it will not able to delete chip-based memory like an SSD.
3. Due to its setbacks many agencies like DoD, the Department of energy, and the Canadian standard association no longer use this standard method for data erasure.

Key Takeaways

The US DoD 5220.22-M Data wipe standard is an authentic method for erasing data from multiple storage devices. This standard provides high data security for classified information by overwriting data multiple times with specific patterns. It has proved its utility in global standard benchmarks due to its 3 passes of data destruction which is efficient and highly demanded.

Eventually, the above recommended tool will provide you the solution to implement US DoD 5220.22-M Data wiping standard to adhere to the relevant certificates and regulations and reports for audit tracking.