Enterprises are taking advantage of the mobility, ease of use, and the applications offered by tablets. For many workers, tablets are replacing PCs or specialized devices as their mobile work device.
IT Asset Managers and Data Security Managers have been focused on keeping track of these devices while in use, and ensuring they can only access and store data and corporate applications securely. As companies upgrade and replace these devices with newer versions, some new concerns, as well as some of the same old ones, for disposition come into play.
Disposing of tablets poses many of the same concerns as other devices like laptops: Having accurate, auditable records of disposal, data security, and environmental compliance, as well as getting the best return on investment when possible.
Tablets do create some new risks that should be addressed, particularly for security. Tablets use Solid State Drive (SSD) technology. We’ve discussed the technology and data erasure challenges with SSD drives in previous articles. The storage capability of the drives in mobile devices continues to grow exponentially.
Many MDM (Mobile Device Management) tools have the ability to wipe or erase data from the devices – as long as they are connected to a network. If the device is disconnected and moved into storage or a disposition collection, can you be sure it’s been fully erased?
Some IT techs will connect iOS phones/ tablets to iTunes and re-flash the device, which will completely wipe the drive and memory on the device, if it’s completed properly. The risk is that your tech’s are busy, and may not have the controls in place to ensure that every single tablet is re-flashed successfully, and may not always have an auditable paper trail to document the process.
Without a strong process in place to ensure tablets – iOS, Android or Windows 8 – are erased and documented, your business could be at risk for data breach or an audit penalty.
Ask your ITAD vendor about their technology and procedures for tablets and other SSD based devices. There are 3 things to confirm in the disposition of tablets:
- The disposition of tablets meets the same corporate requirements as all other data bearing devices for data erasure.
- That the process ensures compliance and auditable records to comply with regulations like PCI, HIPPA/HITECH, SOX, etc.
- That any devices or accessories that cannot be redeployed or remarketed are disposed in compliance with all environmental regulations.
