Degaussing is used to clear data from all of the following medias except:

B.

Atoms and Data - Shon Harris says:"A device that performs degaussing generates a coercive magnetic force that reduces the magnetic flux density of the storage media to zero.

This magnetic force is what properly erases data from media.

Data are stored on magnetic media by the representation of the polarization of the atoms.

Degaussing changes" The latest ISC2 book says: "Degaussing can also be a form of media destruction.

High-power degaussers are so strong in some cases that they can literally bend and warp the platters in a hard drive.

Shredding and burning are effective destruction methods for non-rigid magnetic media.

Indeed, some shredders are capable of shredding some rigid media such as an optical disk.

This may be an effective alternative for any optical media containing nonsensitive information due to the residue size remaining after feeding the disk into the machine.

However, the residue size might be too large for media containing sensitive information.

Alternatively, grinding and pulverizing are acceptable choices for rigid and solid-state media.

Specialized devices are available for grinding the face of optical media that either sufficiently scratches the surface to render the media unreadable or actually grinds off the data layer of the disk.

Several services also exist which will collect drives, destroy them on site if requested and provide certification of completion.

It will be the responsibility of the security professional to help, select, and maintain the most appropriate solutions for media cleansing and disposal." Degaussing is achieved by passing the magnetic media through a powerful magnet field to rearrange the metallic particles, completely removing any resemblance of the previously recorded signal (from the "all about degaussers link below)

Therefore, degaussing will work on any electronic based media such as floppy disks, or hard disks - all of these are examples of electronic storage.

However, "read-only media" includes items such as paper printouts and CD-ROM wich do not store data in an electronic form or is not magnetic storage.Passing them through a magnet field has no effect on them.

Not all clearing/ purging methods are applicable to all media for example, optical media is not susceptible to degaussing, and overwriting may not be effective against Flash devices.

The degree to which information may be recoverable by a sufficiently motivated and capable adversary must not be underestimated or guessed at in ignorance.

For the highest-value commercial data, and for all data regulated by government or military classification rules, read and follow the rules and standards.

I will admit that this is a bit of a trick question.

Determining the difference between "read-only media" and "read-only memory" is difficult for the question taker.

However, I believe it is representative of the type of question you might one day see on an exam.

The other answers are incorrect because: Floppy Disks, Magnetic Tapes, and Magnetic Hard Disks are all examples of magnetic storage, and therefore are erased by degaussing.

A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock used in filmmaking or random access digital media.

Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram.

In most cases, a helical scan video head rotates against the moving tape to record the data in two dimensions, because video signals have a very high bandwidth, and static heads would require extremely high tape speeds.

Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) or, more commonly and more recently, videocassette recorder (VCR) and camcorders.A Tape use a linear method of storing information and since nearly all video recordings made nowadays are digital direct to disk recording (DDR), videotape is expected to gradually lose importance as non-linear/random-access methods of storing digital video data become more common.

Reference(s) used for this question: Harris, Shon (2012-10-25)

CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Kindle Locations 25627-25630)

McGraw-Hill.

Kindle Edition.

Schneiter, Andrew (2013-04-15)

Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition : Security Operations (Kindle Locations 580-588).

Kindle Edition.

All About Degaussers and Erasure of Magnetic Media: http://www.degausser.co.uk/degauss/degabout.htm http://www.degaussing.net/ http://www.cerberussystems.com/INFOSEC/stds/ncsctg25.htm.

Degaussing is a process of erasing or neutralizing magnetic data stored on various types of magnetic media. This is typically accomplished through the use of a magnetic field, which will scramble or erase the data on the media.

Option B, Read-Only Media, cannot be degaussed because the data on this type of media is typically permanently written, rather than magnetically stored. Examples of Read-Only Media include CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, which cannot be rewritten or altered once they have been created.

Option A, Floppy Disks, can be degaussed. These were the primary magnetic storage media for computers for many years, but have largely been replaced by more advanced storage technologies. Floppy disks use a magnetic coating on a plastic substrate to store data, which can be erased or neutralized through the application of a magnetic field.

Option C, Video Tapes, can also be degaussed. These were once a popular method of storing and distributing video content, but have largely been supplanted by digital formats. Like floppy disks, video tapes use a magnetic coating on a plastic substrate to store data, which can be erased or neutralized through the application of a magnetic field.

Option D, Magnetic Hard Disks, can be degaussed, but it is not typically recommended. Hard disks are the primary storage media for modern computers and are highly complex devices that store data magnetically on spinning platters. While it is possible to degauss a hard disk to erase its data, this can also damage the drive itself and render it unusable. As a result, other data destruction methods are typically preferred for hard disks, such as wiping or physically destroying the drive.