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CAS-005 · Question #94

A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is concerned that a company's current data disposal procedures could result in data remanence. The company uses only SSDs. Which of the following would be…

The correct answer is E. Incinerating. To address data remanence concerns for SSDs, incineration is the most secure disposal method as it ensures complete physical destruction of the storage medium.

Submitted by yuriko_h· Mar 6, 2026Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Question

A Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is concerned that a company's current data disposal procedures could result in data remanence. The company uses only SSDs. Which of the following would be the most secure way to dispose of the SSDs given the CISO's concern?

Options

  • ADegaussing
  • BOverwriting
  • CShredding
  • DFormatting
  • EIncinerating

How the community answered

(26 responses)
  • B
    4% (1)
  • C
    12% (3)
  • D
    8% (2)
  • E
    77% (20)

Why each option

To address data remanence concerns for SSDs, incineration is the most secure disposal method as it ensures complete physical destruction of the storage medium.

ADegaussing

Degaussing uses magnetic fields to destroy data on magnetic media (HDDs) but is ineffective for SSDs, which store data in non-magnetic flash memory cells.

BOverwriting

Overwriting data on SSDs is often unreliable for complete data eradication due to wear-leveling algorithms and hidden areas that might retain original data, making it less secure than physical destruction.

CShredding

While shredding physically destroys the SSD, incineration is considered a more thorough and absolute method of destruction, eliminating even microscopic data fragments.

DFormatting

Formatting an SSD is a logical operation that only removes pointers to data, making it easily recoverable with forensic tools and thus not a secure disposal method.

EIncineratingCorrect

Incineration completely destroys the physical components of the SSD through extreme heat, rendering all data unrecoverable and ensuring the highest level of data remanence prevention.

Concept tested: Data sanitization and disposal for SSDs

Source: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/securely-erase-data

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