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Data Sanitisation

What is Data Sanitisation?

The process of deliberately, permanently, and irreversibly removing or destroying data stored on a memory device. Data sanitisation ensures that residual data cannot be recovered even with advanced forensic tools.

Information Security

Frameworks that govern data sanitisation

ISO 27001:2022View framework →NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0View framework →CIS Controls v8View framework →

What the standards actually require on data sanitisation

Requirements naming data sanitisation across 4 standards, quoted from the control text.

ISMAP (Japan)1 control

ISMAP Data Protection establishes comprehensive data lifecycle controls. (1) Data Classification: customer government data must be classified per Japanese government data classification scheme + including (a) General + (b) Sensitive + (c) Confidential + (d) St...

ISMAP-DataProtection-Classification-Encryption-DataResidencyJapan-Backup-SecureDeletion-Cryptography-FIPS · ISMAP Data Protection - Data Classification + AES-256 Encryption At Rest + TLS 1.3 In Transit + Data Residency Japan + Backup + Secure Deletion + Cryptography per FIPS 140-3 + CRYPTREC + KMS HSM →
ISO/IEC 27400:20221 control

Decommission IoT devices securely including credential revocation, data sanitisation and physical disposal aligned with environmental requirements.

27400-11.1 · Decommissioning and Disposal →
NIST SP 800-1231 control

Implement Section 7.1 incident response for servers per NIST SP 800-61 covering preparation + detection + analysis + containment + eradication + recovery + post-incident review + coordination with CSIRT + US-CERT + CISA + Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) sharin...

NISTSP123-7 · Incident Response and Server Decommissioning →
NIST SP 800-82 Revision 3: Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security1 control

Operate OT supply chain + asset lifecycle + physical security per NIST SP 800-82 Rev 3 Chapter 6 + Chapter 7. OT Supply Chain Security must (a) qualify OT vendors and suppliers per NIST SP 800-161 Supply Chain Risk Management tailored to OT (vendor cybersecuri...

NISTSP82-8 · OT Supply Chain Security, Asset Lifecycle, and Physical Security →

Questions people ask about data sanitisation

What is Data Sanitisation?
The process of deliberately, permanently, and irreversibly removing or destroying data stored on a memory device. Data sanitisation ensures that residual data cannot be recovered even with advanced forensic tools.
Why is Data Sanitisation important for compliance?
Data Sanitisation is a key concept in Information Security. Understanding data sanitisation helps organizations meet regulatory requirements, reduce risk, and demonstrate due diligence during audits. Our compliance platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings.
Which compliance frameworks address Data Sanitisation?
Data Sanitisation appears in the requirement text of ISMAP (Japan), ISO/IEC 27400:2022, NIST SP 800-123, NIST SP 800-82 Revision 3: Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security. Across these standards we have identified 4 controls that name it directly, each linked to the control text on the compliance platform.
Where can I learn more about Data Sanitisation?
Explore our compliance framework pages to see how data sanitisation applies across different standards and regulations. Our implementation guides provide step-by-step guidance, and the compliance platform offers AI-powered analysis of how this concept maps across 686 frameworks.

See how Data Sanitisation applies across compliance frameworks

Our platform maps 686 frameworks with 311K cross-framework control mappings. Explore how this concept is addressed across standards.

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Written and maintained by Gerard Blokdyk, The Art of Service.