Preparing to Leave Stanford

If you're leaving Stanford, of course you're returning any Stanford-owned equipment, but remember: you need to make sure that you leave behind all Stanford data as well.

If you've been using a Stanford-owned device, it must be turned into your supervisor, who may access or pass along the data used in the course of your work. The device and the data stored on it will remain encrypted. (You should take care to remove any personal data from your Stanford-owned device, for your own personal security; the tips below may help you find and erase your own data before turning in the device.)

If you've been using a personally-owned device, you must turn your Stanford data over to your supervisor, and then remove it from your device. It is absolutely essential that you take full personal responsibility and invest the time to thoroughly cleanse your personal computing devices prior to your departure. See below for a step-by-step process.

How to Properly Remove Stanford Data from a Personal Device

You may only decrypt your personally-owned computers after you have transferred all sensitive data to your Stanford supervisor. Steps for doing so are outlined below.

1. Retrieve and Remove PHI and other High Risk Data

Locate all your Stanford data and return a copy of it to your supervisor. Only you know where you stored PHI and other High Risk Data on your own machine, so it's up to you to make sure you retrieve it (and later remove it) all. Please check in all office documents, file systems, and email folders and attachments; also check your downloads folder. Don't forget to also retrieve Stanford data from any local backup device which you may have (external HD, flash drives, Time Capsule, etc.).

Once you have located the data and returned it to your supervisor, you need to remove it securely from your own computer. Some best practices: clear out your downloads folder, completely remove your Stanford email account(s) and Stanford Calendar, and remove Stanford files from all your portable and backup drives. Make sure that you delete them securely by using Apple's Secure Empty Trash option.

Best Practices

To safely and completely delete all Stanford information from your personal device, follow these steps:

Removing local files and Stanford accounts from your computer

To clear your Downloads or Documents folders:

• Go to the Finder.
• In the menu bar, select "Go" and choose the appropriate folder from the menu.
• You may then look through that folder for Stanford data. Users with small amounts of data on the machine may be able to select "All My Files" but this option will probably yield a prohibitively large number of files for most users.

Removing Stanford accounts:

Depending on your version of Mac OS X, you may be able to remove accounts by way of System Preferences.

• Under the Apple menu, choose "System Preferences" and then click the "Mail, Contacts & Calendars" option.

• In the Mail/Contact/Calendar page, you can delete Stanford accounts by selecting them in the left-hand column and pressing the minus button at the bottom of the column.

After removing accounts here, you should still complete the following steps to ensure that the accounts are removed.

• To delete your Stanford email account, open Mail and select "Preferences" from the Mail menu.

• From there, choose "Accounts" in the top row of the Preferences window. Your mail account may be called "Stanford," "Zimbra," or something similar. Select it and click the minus button at the bottom of that column to delete the account.

• To delete your Stanford Calendar, open the Calendar or iCal application and select "Preferences"

The process is the same as Mail: Select "Accounts" on the top row, select the appropriate account from the left-hand column, and delete by pressing the minus button.

Finally, you should make sure there are no email attachments with Stanford data that need to be deleted. Go to the Finder, and select the "Go" menu while holding down the Option key on your keyboard. You should see an additional option for "Library." Select it and the Library folder will open.

From there, look in the folder "Mail Downloads" to make sure there are no documents containing Stanford data.

Your browser security

You should clear the cache and any saved passwords from your browser.

Safari | Chrome | Firefox

Safari

In Safari, you can do this by selecting "Reset Safari" under the Safari menu.

Check "Clear History," "Remove all website data," "Remove saved names and passwords," "Remove other AutoFill form text" and "Clear the Downloads list."

Chrome

In Chrome, you may select "Clear Browsing Data" under the Chrome menu.

From the "Clear Browsing Data" window, select "the beginning of time" and check "clear download history," "delete cookies and other site and plug-in data," "empty the cache," "clear saved passwords" and "clear saved Autofill form data."

Firefox

Firefox users will have to clear this data manually. From the Firefox menu, select "Preferences."

Under the "Privacy" option in the top row, select "Clear your recent history."

In the resulting window, for "Time range to clear" choose "Everything," and check the boxes for "Cookies," "Cache" and "Active Logins."

In the previous window, select "Remove individual cookies." From there, type "Stanford" into the search bar and click "Remove All Cookies."

iOS users

To remove Stanford data from your MDM-equipped iPhone or iPad, go to https://mdm.stanford.edu, log in with your SUNet ID and password, and click "Remove Stanford Data."

If you did not use MDM to set up mail and calendaring, open the Settings application on your iOS device and go to "Mail, Contacts, Calendars." From there, choose the Stanford account – it may be called Stanford, Zimbra, Exchange or whatever else it was named when set up – and scroll to the bottom of the screen and choose "Delete Account."

2. Remove BigFix

Simply download the BigFix installer (available here, or file a HelpSU ticket for assistance).
Mount/Open the DMG file, and you will be given the option of "AgentUninstaller" and "BigFix_Mac.pkg".
Select "AgentUninstaller" and click to "Open".
You will be prompted to verify that you want to uninstall BigFIx. Click "Ok" to begin the uninstallation process.
You will see a dialog box stating that the uninstaller wants to make changes. Enter your admin password and click "Ok".
When the process completes, restart the computer.

3. Remove CrashPlan

Simply download the CrashPlan installer (available here, or file a HelpSU ticket for assistance), mount the DMG drive, and double-click the "Uninstall" app.

4. Remove OPSWAT

In the finder on your Mac, open the Applications folder, then the "OPSWAT GEARS Client" folder, and double-click the "Uninstall" app.

5. Store your FileVault Recovery Key

We recommend that you keep the FileVault encryption software running on your machine, for your own personal security. You may therefore want to store the recovery key in a safe location for your own future use. You can get your key by calling 5-HELP (650-725-4357).

You may only decrypt your personally-owned computers after you have transferred all sensitive data to your Stanford supervisor. Steps for doing so are outlined below.

1. Retrieve and Remove PHI and other Moderate and High Risk Data

Locate all your Stanford data and if relevant, return a copy of it to your supervisor. Only you know where you stored PHI and other High Risk Data on your own machine. Please check in all office documents, file systems, and email folders and attachments; also check your downloads folder. Don't forget to also retrieve Stanford data from any local backup device which you may have (external HD, flash drives, Time Capsule, etc.).