Step 6: Properly Dispose of Old Devices

​important​ If you have old devices that you no longer use, or have upgraded to a new one after realizing the old one is no longer supported, be sure to clean it up before passing it on to someone else or storing it away. How you clean it up will depend on how you used it before.

• If you only used it to access your personal or business data via a browser or web application: You are fine to just log out and clear any data in the browsers you used. This would be the case for a device that you might have used temporarily, perhaps one you used while your main device was being repaired, or a computer in a hotel business center you used to print documents from your email.

• If you used it for more than just the browser, perhaps to store copies of documents or to log into specific software or apps: A full factory reset is the best option. There will be small breadcrumbs of data that you may leave behind, and clearing them completely by doing a full reset is the best way to ensure safety.

• If you are planning on selling the device to someone else: You will need to do more. A factory reset doesn’t always guarantee that no files were left behind if someone was actually looking for them. It all depends on how your device performs its factory reset. When looking to on-sell an old device that was used to carry your data, you can use a professional device wiping service that will make sure the entire hard drive is cleaned. When determining if a business that provides this service is legit or not, check if they follow the standard NIST 800–88 (or follow that standard yourself, as it has some helpful guidelines to follow depending on the device). What I do instead is purge data from old devices and keep them in my closet, which I lovingly refer to as my old technology museum. It is always good to have a device to use as a backup, or a device for others in the house to use without lending them my own.