official data destruction cert?

My business offers "guaranteed data destruction." I make sure that all hard drives are dismantled and impossible to recover any data from. I make sure that it is done because I want my customers to trust me. But this is based completely on them trusting me.



someone asked me the other day, If I had a certification or a card stating that I am officially destroying data. I do not. Is there such certifications out there?

I saw a form the other day. it was rather simple. company letter head, under that it said, certificate of destruction. listed how many hard drives they took in on one side of the page. listed how many hard drives they destroyed on the other side of the page. very simple and plain. but got the customer a legitimate receipt.

I could probably make one and make it look official.
But what is stopping a hard drive snooper from doing the same thing? And stealing identity's and what not.

I can say what ever I want on my business card, and honor it. Or be dishonest like some people might.
I want customers to feel completely safe giving me their hard drives.

Find a template for a COD(Cert of destruction) an use that. An nothing will stop someone from trying to scam folks. I print a cod when folks ask. I don't do a huge accounts of HDs. I know others on here highly suggest using the form tho. I'm sure they'll all chime in at some point.

Sirscrapalot - Goes all Godzilla on HDs.

Originally Posted by spinroch

I sometimes use COD, but I usually use trout, or maybe even salmon...

I prefer my COD fried, and my trout and salmon BBQ'd

Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff

NO...there is software that you should be using (costs like $75-150) that will issue a certificate of destruction....there have been several threads on this. It records alot of info form the hard drive and puts it on the cert....like serial, number of heads/gb etc...it also shows the readings that the software made as it wrote (and what over writing method you used....ie DOD, NSA etc)...take a look at those old threads.

If not, I can point you in the right direction. Do it right guys or eventually there WILL be a certification you will have to have and it WON'T be cheap....you also need data insurance in case someone wants a copy of your policy....THAT makes you legit...real software and insurance.

Yes. this might be nice for me. 80% of the HD I get, the customers don't care either way. Its the other 20% that are concerned. I've had people drill them out with a drill press before selling to me. I tell them that they don't need to worry, but trust can be hard to earn with a first impression sometimes. I will look into it.
I definitely agree, do it right.

I guess if you had someone who wanted guaranteed data destruction you may have to pass, you could drill them or shred them in font of them but that is no guarantee...

If I were to get into data destruction, I'd get one of these, put it in a box truck and offer mobile/onsite data shredding.

Looking around to find ways to make me stand out over the other guys in town. A COD is a tool I'm going to have to use, even the average person would feel safer knowing steps like this were taken.
On a side note, that shredder mad me cry a little. Poor hard drives.

lol..I don't use photoshop an I guess the business I do get HDs from aren't doing it right. Cause..all they want is my nice little printed form with the way it was destroyed, date, an all that good stuff.

As always..YMMV.

Sirscrapalot - still lol'ing at photoshop.

Originally Posted by ParkerFlyer4

I could probably make one and make it look official.
But what is stopping a hard drive snooper from doing the same thing? And stealing identity's and what not.

I can say what ever I want on my business card, and honor it. Or be dishonest like some people might.
I want customers to feel completely safe giving me their hard drives.

A legitimate LLC or registered company is what most companies, in my opinion, are looking for. A paper trail, and if need be a little research, is all that's needed to figure out if someone is fly by night or legitimate. Granted there probably are those out there who form and LLC or corporation to scam others, but if you're doing that with a corporation there would most certainly be legal ramifications involved. As others have said, there are templates and its rather easy to put one together. I was fortunate enough to have another member send me one, and I just made it my own. Just do a Google search and you will find dozens of them.