ISO 27002:2022 – Control 8.10 – Information Deletion

Purpose of Control 8.10

As well as managing the ongoing use of data and information on internal servers and storage devices (HDDs, arrays, USB drives etc.), organisation’s need to be acutely aware of their obligations towards removing and deleting any data held on employees, users, customers or organisations when it is reasonably necessary to do so (usually when it is no longer needed).

Attributes Table of Control 8.10

Control 8.10 is a preventative control that modifies risk by outlining an approach to data deletion that complements an organisation’s existing data retention policies, and keeps them compliant with any prevailing laws or regulatory guidelines.

Ownership of Control 8.10

Control 8.10 largely deals with maintenance tasks relating to the deletion and destruction of data and/or IT assets, including the use of specialised software and liaising with vendors who specialise in data and device deletion. As such, ownership should reside with the Head of IT, or organisational equivalent.

General Guidance on Compliance

It can sometimes be difficult to ascertain when data should be deleted. As a general rule, Control 8.10 asks organisations to delete data when it is no longer required, in order to minimise what is referred to as undesirable disclosure – i.e. data being viewed by, or passed on to, individuals and organisations that are not authorised to access it.

In accordance with this guideline, when the time comes to delete data, organisations should:

1. Opt for an appropriate deletion method that fulfils any prevailing laws or regulations. Techniques include standard deletion, overwriting or encrypted deletion.
2. Log the results of the deletion for future reference.
3. Ensure that, if a specialised deletion vendor is used, the organisation obtains adequate proof (usually via documentation) that the deletion has been carried out.
4. If a third-party vendor is being used, organisations should stipulate their precise requirements, including deletion methods and timescales, and ensure that deletion activities are covered under a binding agreement.

Guidance – Specific Deletion Methods

When formulating a deletion process, organisations should:

1. Configure internal systems to delete data and information in accordance with the organisation’s topic-specific policy on retention.
2. Ensure that deletion extends to temporary files, cached information, copies of data and legacy versions.
3. Consider using specialised deletion utility applications to minimise risk.
4. Only contract out to certified, verifiable deletion specialists, if the need arises to use a third-part service.
5. Implement physical deletion measures that are appropriate to the device in question (e.g. degaussing magnetic storage media, restoring factory settings on a smartphone or physical destruction) (see Control 7.14).
6. Ensure that cloud service providers are aligned with the organisation’s own deletion requirements (as far as is possible).

Supplementary Information on Control 8.10

When shipping equipment (notably servers and workstations) to vendors, organisations should remove any internal or external storage devices before doing so.

Supporting Guidelines

• 7.14

Changes and Differences from ISO 27002:2013

None. Control 8.10 has no precedent in ISO 27002:2013 as it is new.

New ISO 27002 Controls

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