Ramaswamy Chandramouli coauthored Guidelines for Media Sanitization by Ramaswamy Chandramouli and Eric A. Hibbard, revision2, with Eric A. Hibbard in2025. The printed title page identifies Chandramouli with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Computer Security Division.[ref]
Their guidance classifies data sanitization by recovery resistance and the medium's future usability. In particular, destroying a medium prevents its subsequent use for data storage; this is an additional consequence beyond the intended protection of the target data.[ref]
For an original scope example, suppose the same confidential dataset is stored on two devices. The first is successfully sanitized and recorded in an inventory, but the second remains readable. The statement that one device passed its acceptance criteria is compatible with the dataset still being recoverable from the other device. Protection of every relevant copy requires a scope that includes both devices; one certificate cannot establish a claim about an unassessed copy.
A different stipulated requirement might also demand reuse of the original medium. Destruction cannot satisfy that reuse requirement, even if it achieves the intended recovery resistance. The example shows why acceptance depends on both the information being protected and the constraints on the medium, without recommending a device-specific erasure technique.
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