ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A · Control 7.14

Secure Disposal or Re-use of Equipment: A Practical Implementation Guide

Remove sensitive data and organizational identifiers before equipment is discarded, sold, returned or reassigned.

This control concerns verifying that information and licensed software have been removed or securely overwritten before equipment disposal or reuse.

Practical interpretation: Factory reset, deletion and disposal are not equivalent. The method must match media technology, information sensitivity and the intended destination, with evidence tied to each asset.

What should the control achieve?

Disposition is authorized and recorded.
Data-removal methods are risk and media appropriate.
Reuse verifies a trusted configuration.
Destruction and vendor handling are evidenced.

Step-by-step implementation

Define disposition routes

Cover internal reuse, return, resale, donation, recycling and destruction.

Identify data-bearing components

Include drives, flash storage, printers, phones, network devices and embedded controllers.

Select sanitization method

Use clearing, cryptographic erase, purging or physical destruction according to risk and technology.

Verify results

Use supported tools, logs, sampling and independent checks for sensitive assets.

Control third parties

Assess vendors, custody, transport, certificates and downstream processing.

Update records

Reconcile serial numbers, licenses, ownership and final status.

What this could look like in practice

Retired laptops are inventoried by serial number, cryptographically erased with logged verification and rebuilt from the approved baseline for internal reuse. Failed drives are shredded by an approved vendor under witnessed custody.

Activity	Practical implementation	Evidence
Internal reuse	Sanitization is verified before baseline rebuild.	Wipe and build record
Lease return	Data removal and asset reconciliation precede shipment.	Return checklist
Destruction	Serialized media follows secure transport to approved destruction.	Certificate
Embedded storage	Printer and network-device memory are included.	Device checklist

Implementation evidence

Disposal and reuse procedure
Asset disposition approvals
Sanitization standards
Wipe logs
Verification records
Chain of custody
Vendor due diligence
Serialized destruction certificates

Useful metrics

Disposed assets with matched evidence
Sanitization failures
Assets awaiting disposition
Certificates with serial discrepancies

Common mistakes

Using simple file deletion.
Forgetting embedded and removable storage.
Trusting vendor certificates without reconciliation.
Selling equipment with organizational labels or licenses.
Reusing equipment without secure baseline.

Questions an auditor may ask

How is the sanitization method selected?
Show serial-level evidence.
How are disposal vendors assessed?
What happens when wiping fails?

Implementation test: Select disposed and reused equipment and reconcile asset record, data classification, sanitization method, verification and final destination.

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This independent educational guide paraphrases the practical intent of the control and does not replace the official ISO standards, professional advice or an organization-specific risk assessment. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ISO.

ISO 27001 Annex A 7.14: Secure Disposal or Re-use of Equipment – Practical Implementation Guide