According to the CHFI v11 Computer Forensics Fundamentals and Evidence Handling and Sanitization guidelines, media sanitization is a critical process used to ensure that deleted or sensitive data cannot be recovered using forensic techniques. Different international standards define specific overwrite patterns and the number of passes required to securely sanitize storage media.
The procedure described- six overwrite passes alternating between 0x00 and 0xFF, followed by a final overwrite with 0xAA -exactly matches the VSITR (Verschlusssache IT Richtlinien) standard. VSITR is a German government-approved data sanitization method that mandates 7 overwrite passes :
* Passes 1-6: Alternating 0x00 and 0xFF
* Pass 7: Final overwrite with the pattern 0xAA
CHFI v11 explicitly references VSITR as a high-assurance sanitization standard , suitable for environments handling classified or highly sensitive information. This method is more rigorous than commonly used standards such as DoD 5220.22-M , which typically uses 3 passes (or a legacy 7-pass variant with different patterns). NAVSO P-5239-26 (MFM) uses different overwrite schemes, and GOST P50739-95 generally involves fewer passes.
From a forensic and legal standpoint, following a recognized sanitization standard like VSITR demonstrates due diligence, compliance, and defensibility , especially when preventing data leakage after incidents.
Therefore, based on the overwrite pattern and number of passes described, the media sanitization standard followed by Sarah is VSITR , making Option C the correct and CHFI v11-verified answer.