Apple

Start here, sp800_88_r1_draft.pdf and see what the recommended sanitization technique is. I also remember some articles discussing how SSDs work. I'll try and find them.

As for returning media to the vendor, we (LLNL) have a purchasing agreement that says they don't get the drives back no matter what.

On Mar 19, 2013, at 7:39 AM, "Danziger, Alan D." <email@hidden> wrote:

I'm not sure how helpful this is but my solution is to use FileVault 2 on the SSD. If it needs to be swapped out, I erase (remove the key), and all the data on the drive is (in theory, which I believe) irretrievable without "sufficiently advanced technology (= magic)" Certainly sufficient for my personal data.

"This does not reflect my employer's policies or preferences."

       -=Alan

-----Original Message-----
From: fed-talk-bounces+aland=email@hidden [mailto:fed-talk-bounces+aland=email@hidden] On Behalf Of Dr. Brad Cox
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 10:21 AM
To: Dyson, Jennifer L CIV SPAWARSYSCEN-PACIFIC, 53521
Cc: Fed Talk
Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] Secure erase of SSD drives?

Ran into that with a personal hard drive that needed warranty replacement. Apple INSISTED that I return the old drive undamaged or pay an exorbitant fee. Something about needing to monitor failure causes before tossing in a dumpster. A secure one they claimed ;)

Resolved that (to my satisfaction; probably not govt's) with a honking big drive erase magnet. Apple never objected. My next choice would be a hammer, tree chipper or the like.

Apple's not your friend in such cases.

On Mar 19, 2013, at 10:03 AM, "Dyson, Jennifer L CIV SPAWARSYSCEN-PACIFIC, 53521" <email@hidden> wrote:

We have a Mac SSD drive that will be put in for a warranty claim, but
when we went to do the secure DoD erase from Disk Utility, lo and
behold...it was greyed out. Further googling on the topic revealed that
there appears to be no secure way to wipe SSD drives...Seems to be a way
to recover data no matter what...and even if you do some of the
overwrite methods, you will degrade the performance terribly (not a big
deal in this case since we are sending it back to the manufacturer)
What?!?!?!? How did I miss this little tidbit of information! I then
saw that the only possible way would be to use something specifically
from the hardware manufacturer (in this case it was Samsung...and I see
no way to use their tool on the MAC) Does anyone have any suggestions?
What would be the DoD approved method? Haha...probably destruction
only! Although I am worried about this for home computers as well....

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3191

/Jen
Jennifer Dyson
SSC-PACIFIC Code 53521
email@hidden
DCO Jabber - jennifer.dyson

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

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Peter Link

Cyber Security Analyst

Cyber Security Program

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

PO Box 808, L-315

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The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect the views or position of the U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Lawrence Livermore National Security, or Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

References:
	>Re: [Fed-Talk] Secure erase of SSD drives? (From: "Link, Peter R." <email@hidden>)