CCSP: Cryptoshredding

[Spirnia]

Hi, 

I am wondering about the steps in cryptoshredding.

I was under the impression that you delete the key only.

But, the official online curriculum says the following:

So, is data re-written during cryptoshredding or is only the key destroyed?

[Spirnia]

Thank you so much!

[CBMExamTeam]

@dcontesti Hello,

Thank you for reaching out.

I have forwarded your request to the people I hope will be able to help. Either someone will respond via Community or I'll let you know when my resource(s) reply.

Christine

Exam Admin

Exam Security

[CBMExamTeam]

@dcontesti @Spirnia Hello again,

I'm pleased to tell you that two of our content experts (also part of our Standards & Practice team) will be responding to you once they've had the chance to review the discussion here on Community.

Please be patient; you will receive a response.

Christine

Exam Administration

Exam Security

[Spirnia]

Thank you so much!

[dcontesti]

Many thanks for the assist on this one.

d

[WillO_317]

Technically, you are on the right track; however, the terms ‘cryptographic erasure’, ‘crypto-shredding’, and ‘digital shredding’ are used somewhat interchangeably. The text muddies the water a bit by the statement "to perform proper crypto-shredding..."

By definition, Crypto-shredding is “A method of Sanitization in which the Media Encryption Key (MEK) for the encrypted Target Data (or the Key Encryption Key –KEK) is sanitized, making recovery of the decrypted Target Data Infeasible” (NIST SP 800-88r1).   

Crypto-shredding is not this process, it is merely one portion of a larger cryptographic erasure process.

As an aside, I would disagree that the key is the ‘ONLY thing touched', as that may not be sufficient.

[WillO_317]

I will also add that ISC2 has marked this one for clarification/correction in its upcoming edits.  Thank you for engaging in this discussion.

[Spirnia]

Thank you for providing the definition from NIST.

I didn’t think to look there!