FORTASA BLOG

National Security Agency
Media Sanitization Manual

A more detailed and elaborate data sanitization method to purge resident data from the storage media, including Flash Storage, quickly and securely is defined in NSA Manual, Section 130-12. Currently, the Manual 9-12 supersedes NSA/CSS Manual 130-12.

The NSA method requires the destructive sequence below to overwrite existing information on a hard drive, SSD, Flash card or other storage device. The NSA data sanitization method is defined to be implemented in the following way:

• Pass 1: Erases fully all data
• Pass 2: Programs a random character and verifies the write
• Pass 3: Erases fully all data
• Pass 4: Programs a different random character and verifies the write
• Pass 5: Erases fully all data
• Pass 4: Programs a specified character and verifies the write

Erasing and re-writing a Solid State Drive using the NSA Manual 130-12 data sanitization method will prevent all software and hardware based file recovery methods from re-creating previously stored information from the drive. While this method requires multiple erase/program passes across the whole storage device address space, it is one of the more thorough algorithms to remove the magnetic remnants of the previously stored information. Fortasa Memory Systems Military SSDs incorporate purge sequences that adhere to multiple government standards for secure removal of stored data.

Please contact Fortasa to discuss your security requirements in your Solid State Storage needs.