Blancco Technology Group, a data erasure and lifecycle solutions provider, reported that its software erased 63.8 million devices in FY 2023, preventing an estimated 107 million kilograms (236 million pounds) of IT devices from entering landfills. The company’s software allows for the reuse, recycling, donation, or sale of end-of-life devices, contributing to a circular economy. Blancco’s “erasing data for good” software helps companies maintain a strong security posture while avoiding the physical destruction of unwanted or end-of-life devices.
Blancco’s data erasure is permanent and irreversible. There is an important distinction between data deletion and data erasure. When you delete data, it merely removes the pointers to the data, rendering it inaccessible to the operating system. Still, the data remains on the device, and someone can recover it using specialized software. Blancco’s data erasure is a software-based procedure that overwrites the data with random binary data, adhering to established standards and making the data irrecoverable.
Every erasure done by Blancco is subjected to verification and certification, ultimately generating a signed and tamper-proof Erasure Certificate. This certificate serves as evidence of adherence to local, national, and global data protection regulations, according to the company.
Blancco says it complies with more than 24 international data wiping and erasure standards set by governmental agencies, legal authorities, and independent testing laboratories.
As evidenced by the 63.8 million devices the company erased in FY 2023, this method can be significant in allowing the safe reselling, repurposing, or disposal of hard and solid-state drives. This type of technology will likely play an essential role in contributing to a circular economy and avoiding a vast amount of e-waste. Additionally, many of these devices can in turn be used in developing countries at a low to no cost for essential communications on Wi-Fi and mobile networks. Over 40% of the world is still unconnected and Blancco’s efforts could play a role in bridging the digital divide.
Additional analyst note: The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report revealed that 53.6 million tons 3of electronic waste (e-waste) were discarded worldwide in the previous year, with a mere 17.4% of it being recycled. The report further noted that even countries with established e-waste management systems struggled to achieve high collection and recycling rates.
