As a rather startling example of the situation, the Veritas 2020 UK Databerg report found that 53% of data in organizations is dark— that is, with an undetermined business value. A further 28% of that data is redundant, outdated, or trivial (ROT).2 Also, where we use, store, and process data is always evolving. Changes in working practices, IT platforms, regulations, and the miniaturization of devices add to data management complexity. For these reasons, as IT, compliance, and security professionals, or as those responsible for these functions, we must carefully consider how we deal with data, especially at the point we need to permanently get rid of it.

Are our sanitization practices optimal from the perspectives of business efficiency, data security, regulatory compliance, and risk? There’s also overlap for the pressing question of environmental responsibility: Are today’s data destruction methods sustainable from generation to generation, especially considering our current rate of data dependency and growth?