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GAO-07-1233R 1 (2007-09-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaupy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: S=GAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 September 21, 2007 The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman Chairman The Honorable Susan Collins Ranking Member Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs United States Senate Subject: Sale of Magnetic Data Tapes Previously Used by the Government Presents a Low Security Risk The federal government widely uses magnetic tapes for data storage and data recovery. According to allegations made by a magnetic-tape company official, federal agencies are selling used magnetic tapes containing sensitive government data to companies which then resell them to the general public. While this is not an illegal practice, you are concerned that magnetic tapes containing sensitive government data have become available to the public in this manner. There is no general legal requirement that the government erase all data on all magnetic tapes before disposing of them. However, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued guidelines that instruct agencies to properly sanitize magnetic tapes with certain kinds of sensitive data before they leave agency control. 1 In its guidelines, NIST defines sanitization as the general process of removing data from storage media, such that there is reasonable assurance that the data may not be easily retrieved and reconstructed. We focused our investigation of this potential security risk by attempting to determine whether the companies identified in the allegations are purchasing used magnetic tapes from the federal government and reselling them and, if so, whether we could recover data from used tapes that the companies had resold. In conducting this investigation, we spoke with representatives of five companies and visited two of these companies. We obtained used magnetic tapes and tested them to see if any data could be retrieved. To test the magnetic tapes for data, we used a combination of 'According to its Web site, NIST is a nonregulatory federal agency that promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve quality of life. For this report we referred to NIST, Guidelines for Media Sanitization, Special Publication 800-88 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2006). These guidelines do not apply to classified data. GAO-07-1233R Sale of Magnetic Data Tapes

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