From an asset security perspective, the best countermeasure to prevent data theft due to data remanence when a sensitive data storage media is no longer needed is to physically destroy the retired media. Data remanence is the residual data that remains on a storage device after it has been erased or formatted. Data remanence poses a risk of unauthorized disclosure or recovery of sensitive information by malicious actors. Physical destruction is the most secure method of eliminating data remanence, as it involves rendering the storage media unusable and irreparable by methods such as shredding, pulverizing, burning, or melting. Physical destruction ensures that no data can be retrieved from the media, even with advanced forensic tools or techniques. References:
Data States and Data Remanence, Data Remanence and Decommissioning, Data Remanence (CISSP Free by Skillset.com)