118 MACWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020
HELPDESK MAC 911is designed to not just perform
erasure meeting a variety of
industry or military standards, but
can also produce a certification
report at the end.
This certificate is backed by the
company having run though its own
set of certifications with industry
groups and labs that test the software
to make sure it meets the erasure
specifications promised. Stellar’s
Bitraser File Eraser (go.macworld.
com/fers), for example, notes that
“This certificate helps you meet
compliance with data protection
regulations such as SOX, GLB, HIPAA,
ISO27001, EU-GDPR, PCI-DSS, audits,
and international guidelines,
including ISO 27001.”
If any of those letters and numbers
are important for your group, Bitraser
File Eraser is $40 a year for a single-user
license, and it’s up to date for macOS 10.15
Catalina.
iShredder from ProtectStar (go.
macworld.com/ishd) also meets the bill
for macOS through Catalina with
“deletion algorithms like DoD 5220.22-M
ECE, Peter Gutmann, DoD 5220.22-M,
HMG Infosec No.5, German BSI-2011-VS,
US Army AR380-19 and more.” It’s $19.90
for an individual license for its
professional version, which includes one
year of updates and support. It has a
“military edition” that adds more military
standards for erasure and a more
comprehensive report.
Instead of purchasing software, you
may also be able to find a local electronics
recycler—like the non-profit
InterConnection (go.macworld.com/incn) in
my town of Seattle—or data-security firm
that offers a one-off price for erasing a
computer’s internal drive with the
necessary certification report or extracting
and destroying a drive with a paper trail for
your needs.iShredder for Mac offers a military edition.