With the possibility of security breaches and the inadvertent release of sensitive information stored on computers, mobile phones, and other devices always a concern, UM Information Technology is now offering media disposal services to all faculty and staff.

Media disposal is a process by which data is irreversibly removed from media devices and/or the media device is permanently destroyed.

Proper disposal of media minimizes the risk of security breaches, and it also reduces the loss of intellectual information, patient health information, research data, and/or other personal confidential information stored on a device. UMIT will use shredding as the technique for destroying media containing University data; this technique is recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

How to Dispose of Media
In order to properly destroy data from media devices such as workstations and/or desktop computers, please complete the Equipment Transfers/Surplus form and email the completed form to: [email protected]. Once the request is processed, a UMIT representative will schedule a visit at your location within 5 to 7 business days to pick up the media device(s) that will be destroyed.

In addition, each of the following campus drop-off locations will accept easily portable media devices such as hard drives, USB thumb drives, laptops, tablets, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and/or mobile phones for media disposal*:

Coral Gables campus: Gables One Tower, Basement Media Disposal office, open Monday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.

Medical campus: Clinical Research Building, Room 107, open Monday-Friday, 2-5 p.m.

Rosenstiel campus: Marine Science Center Building, Room 227, open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

*Please note: Workstations and/or desktop computers will not be accepted at the drop-off locations. Only easily portable computers such as laptops and tablets will be accepted at the drop-off locations.

For best practices on how to dispose of enterprise equipment such as servers, please email the UMIT Service Desk at: [email protected].

For more information about media disposal, including FAQs, please visit the media disposal service webpage. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the UMIT Service Desk at 305-284-6565 or [email protected].