Risk Management

Daily, businesses struggle to secure data on computers and other electronic assets that have served their initial purpose. To simplify management of these assets, Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) created WebView, an online system fueled by Finnish company Blancco. Through WebView, Blancco provides customers with proof that data and software licenses are properly secured by SRS before asset reassignment.

With 37 sites around the world, SRS is a global leader in electrical and electronics recovery and recycling. The company is part of New York-based Sims Metal Management, the world’s largest publicly held metals recycler with more than 230 operations, more than 5,000 employees and annual revenues of almost $5 billion. SRS recycles all types of electrical, electronic and communications equipment, allowing businesses to unlock value in their surplus computer hardware while also meeting sustainability objectives. In 2009 SRS processed more than 660 million pounds of electronics and refurbished 1.5 million assets.

To help customers mitigate business risks associated with electronic asset recycling, SRS created WebView, a proprietary Web-based information technology (IT) asset management system. Used throughout the world to secure information on PCs, servers, flash drives and other data-rich equipment, WebView is designed to provide customers with real-time information about recovered IT assets throughout every stage of the asset recovery process. According to SRS, a critical element in the WebView system is Blancco data erasure software, which provides disk wiping, harvesting of software licenses and auditable reports of disk erasure status.

“WebView is a business critical system for SRS that controls our facilities, logistics and the secure re-use of IT assets for our clients,” says Jon Godfrey, product director for Sims’ Lifecycle Services proposition. “Blancco software is integral to WebView’s functionality in that it tells us whether each asset is data safe and also captures a variety of information about those assets, without manual intervention and potential human error,” he continues. “With Blancco embedded into WebView, we can reduce business risk for our clients by providing an effective, auditable and secure asset management system.”

SECURE SERVICES

For secure removal of customer data from hardware slated for refurbishment or disposal, WebView relies on Blancco products, which employ software overwriting designed to remove information so that it cannot be recovered. Blancco says its certified solutions can erase data from all types of hardware, alerting WebView if an entire disk cannot be erased—a key financial and risk management consideration for SRS.

“In designing WebView, we assessed a number of products in the data erasure market, but they didn’t cope with all drive types and many would report full erasure when it wasn’t accomplished, which is unacceptable in our business,” Godfrey says. “In the U.K. where WebView was developed, there are data laws and regulations which can mean a fine of up to $7 million per event for leaking data that impacts customers—a potential catastrophe in our business.”

Blancco products can erase hidden and locked areas, such as host protected areas (HPAs), device configuration overlays (DCOs) and remapped sectors, according to the company. The data erasure tool can be deployed to target multiple networked PCs, works on a broad range of network hardware and functions in high-end server and storage area network (SAN) environments with a variety of disk types.

If a disk cannot be fully wiped because of damage or other factors, Blancco tells WebView, allowing customers to opt for full physical destruction.

“If for any reason an item is not data safe within the WebView business process, Blancco lets us know, so that we do not sell or recycle that asset, which helps us reduce business risk for our clients, as well as our own operations,” according to Godfrey.

DETAILED DATA

As the Blancco data erasure tool wipes a disk, it continually reports asset information to customers through WebView, including erasure date, hard-drive serial number, specifics about the disk, name of erasure technician and results/errors concerning the erasure process.

Blancco also sends WebView a validation certificate if the overwriting procedure was successfully completed and provides an audit trail designed to ensure compliance with government and industry standards worldwide.

“WebView captures the hardware profile from Blancco, enabling accurate retirement of assets from a customer’s asset list,” Godfrey explains. “Because this is automated through WebView, customers can use the MAC address, hard drive serial number(s) or other data as a unique asset identifier that cannot be changed by user input error.”

Because Blancco tools are operating system independent and work at the bit level, they do not require password or domain access. This means that customer data is not compromised, as only WebView and Blancco access the asset data, and the WebView operators do not see confidential information.

WebView provides clients with brand, business unit, site-specific and even individual user reporting in a format to suit their reporting infrastructure, such as XML or SQL feeds. There is also an environmental element with reports that provide tangible environmental measurements, such as re-use and recycling rates. All data captured is viewable online and is exportable.

In addition to transmitting hardware details to WebView, Blancco captures the software profile just before the drive is securely erased, according to the company. This provides customers with data that proves software removal, which is essential because application or system software that remains on a drive when an asset changes hands—even internally—may violate vendor site-licensing terms and carry heavy fines.

Also, Blancco’s harvesting of software profiles can provide for fast internal reallocation of software and prevents the purchase of additional licenses. It empowers WebView to easily mirror pre-deletion software profiles for equipment that is scheduled for re-use internally.

“With Blancco, WebView can directly report the software status of a disk to our clients, allowing them to remove the device from their select agreement literally at the point where we are data wiping it,” Godfrey says. “Some of those businesses are taking assets off lease or off maintenance agreements, so our ability to capture and report this information quickly and efficiently is key.”

MARKETING MESSAGE

With the security and detail Blancco data erasure software provides, SRS says it is able to approach potential customers with a powerful message about implementing processes with WebView that protect sensitive business information, as well as brand, reputation and sustainability status. The asset management tracking system’s ability to automate this process is especially important, as it removes the potential for human error.

“Many organizations and even businesses in the IT asset recycling market rely on humans to manually erase a drive and put a sticker on it to indicate it’s safe, but this is problematic in that humans only execute such repetitive processes correctly around 98 percent of the time, at best,” Godfrey says. “When dealing with large volumes of sensitive data, this margin of error is extremely dangerous. If our process was only 98 percent successful, we could have leaked data from 13,000 PCs last year alone.” WebView has been used in the U.K. for several years, but a recent global agreement that standardizes the system with Blancco is allowing SRS to roll out the tool throughout all facilities worldwide. Currently in use in Europe and Australasia, WebView is now in the early stages of deployment at the company’s 12 North American recycling facilities.

“Our sales staff has identified a huge need for a tool like WebView that supplies the information from proven data erasure software like Blancco,” says Eric Jones of SRS in West Chicago, Ill. “Customers want to see exactly how our asset management process works, and with Blancco’s information in WebView, we can actually show them how assets are properly processed, as opposed to simply telling them. This will provide them with an extra level of confidence that their data is secure.”

Jones continues, “Sales can now explain how WebView incorporates Blancco, which meets standards all over the world for securing data and complying with regulations, as well as providing auditable reports for compliance requirements.”

STRONG PARTNERSHIP FUELS BUSINESS STRATEGY

In addition to using Blancco data erasure software as a key element in Web- View, SRS is a development partner with Blancco. SRS says the relationship fuels its business strategy to have the most effective, auditable and secure asset management system in WebView.

Blancco’s team of technology specialists not only keep WebView on the cutting edge of data security, they also provide a fast and accurate response should issues arise, Godfrey says.

This is an edited version of a case study prepared by Joensuu, FInland-based Blancco (www.blancco.com).