The DoD 5220.22-M data erasure standard was one of the earliest requirements for US military personnel on how to address data storage devices.
Since this standard was one of the earliest, it became the ad hoc requirement for corporations, ITADs and data sanitization providers. This standard was incorporated in data erasure tools and became the pattern of choice for over a decade.
As new data storage technologies emerged, as we will discuss later, the DoD 5220.22-M standard became outdated and is no longer recommended by the DoD or other certification organizations.