Mishandling this process can lead to serious security risks.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre has released new guidance to help organisations securely decommission end-of-life IT assets.
Warning that mishandling this process can lead to serious security risks, the guide advises technical staff and risk owners to accurately identify assets, validate associated records, and ensure all components are accounted for before retiring any systems.
"Decommissioning can have broader impacts than are immediately apparent," the NCSC noted, underscoring the importance of a thorough and well-coordinated approach.
The guidance also stresses the need for secure storage, effective communication, and the vetting of third-party vendors involved in sensitive tasks.
Even after decommissioning, ongoing verification and updates to asset inventories are essential to ensure a reliable overview of the IT environment and reduce future risks from overlooked impacts.
Jon Abbott, CEO, ThreatAware said that organisations failing to take these steps leave themselves exposed to unnecessary cyber risk. "Decommissioning orphaned devices is a security-critical process that needs clear auditing and proper disposal techniques to prevent data leakage," he said.
"Organisations should integrate asset decommissioning as part of their broader IT asset management process, using automation and continuous discovery to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.”
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
