Here’s Why You Need a Chain of Custody with ITAD

IT asset disposition (ITAD) programs help to mitigate the risks associated with electronic devices at the end of their useful lives. Whether these assets are being destroyed, recycled, or reused, it’s important to maintain a chain of custody during disposition.

This process lets your business know exactly where your assets are at each stage of disposition and prevent some of the risks inherent to each step.

Collection

Having a chain of custody starts preventing issues from the very beginnin of the process. An effective approach involves creating a list of all IT assets for disposition, along with their serial numbers. There should be multiple copies of the list to maintain security.

The person who arrives from the ITAD company should have the proper identification. This is the first link in the chain of custody, so it’s essential to do everything by the book.

Transportation

Transportation is one of the most high-risk phases of ITAD. It presents the greatest window of opportunity for theft and for simple mistakes that could have serious consequences.

The best implementation of a chain of custody at this point will include secured, sealed trucks and transfer of ownership documentation upon every movement or transfer of your assets. Both you and the ITAD company should be able to track where equipment is at all times, making it more likely that any unexpected issue can be resolved.

Destruction

Chain of custody during destruction entails the use of proper reports and certification. While some ITAD companies offer destruction both onsite and at their facility, the paper trail for the chain of custody must be maintained in both cases. If your provider gives you a certificate of destruction, make sure it is backed by verified industry certifications such as e-Stewards or R2. These third-party certificacations ensure valid destruction has been performed.

For this stage, it’s also important to recognize the level of ITAD that you require. If your organization works with any high-security partners, you might require a higher standard of compliance.

Processing and Resale

For many IT assets, there’s a reasonable chance that some value can be recovered. During processing, the ITAD company will evaluate items with potential value and determine whether reselling the asset is worthwhile.

In these cases, the chain of custody is important so that you can verify that individual parts are being handled correctly. Most IT assets will need to have hard drives removed and destroyed before resale.

The chain of custody lets your company know that this critical task has been completed.

Reporting

Of course, there’s little point in establishing a careful chain of custody if your organization has no proof that any precautions were taken. A dependable ITAD company can deliver the comprehensive reports you need for your organization to know that your disposition was handled properly and securely.

Among the most important elements of these reports are certificates of destruction. This ensures that your hard drives are being destroyed properly so that data cannot be retrieved. As previously noted, make sure any certificate of destruction provided is backed by verified industry certifications such as e-Stewards and/or R2. These third-party certificacations ensure valid destruction has been performed.

Without proper disposal, there is always a chance that some third party could retrieve and restore your hard drives to steal confidential business information.

ITAD You Can Count On

SEAM provides the reliable IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services you need, offering chain of custody measures for extensive security. We can work with you to find the best options for South Dakota or North Dakota business unique electronics recycling or IT equipment resale requirements, including asset destruction and value recovery.

Our hard drive destruction meets stringent NIST standards to ensure your privacy and all of our processes, facilities and staff are trained and audited for compliance with our industry certifications including R2 and e-Stewards. Reach out today for all of your ITAD needs in South Dakota.