What School System Tech Leaders Need to Know
Background: What is Asset Disposal?
School organizations purchase and manage thousands of devices that all contain data about the school, district, students, staff and more. These devices include, but are not limited to, end user devices (laptops, desktops, tablets, phones, etc.), smart TVs, printers, switches, servers, network attached cameras, sound systems, photocopying machines, portable storage devices, sensors, and more.
All of these network attached and wireless devices contain varying amounts of data that could represent a risk to the school organization if not disposed of correctly. For example, switches, firewalls and wireless access points contain network configuration information; and end user devices and servers may contain personally identifiable information (PII). Photocopy machines contain hard drives that can store data for a period of time and may contain all kinds of sensitive information.
An asset disposal program that includes rules and procedures for the correct disposal of digital and electronic assets is an essential component for ensuring that data is not inadvertently exposed to unauthorized individuals after equipment has been removed from service.
Asset disposal is the last step of the asset lifecycle. When purchasing new assets (devices, servers, storage, monitors, etc.) determine what your strategy will be for removing those assets from production and disposing of them. Many vendors now offer disposal services with the purchase of an asset and consider adding destruction to the purchase of new equipment.
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