Final answer:
To avoid data remanence concerns, Lauren should instruct her team to use full-disk encryption, which encrypts all data on the disk so it remains secure even after deletion or migration. Zero-wipe drives and data masking are less effective compared to full-disk encryption, and spanning multiple virtual disks is not recommended.
Step-by-step explanation:
To address the concern of data remanence when moving from one virtual host to another, Lauren should instruct her team to use full-disk encryption. This method will ensure that all data stored on the disk is encrypted, making it unreadable without the correct encryption key. By using full-disk encryption, the data remains secure even if remnants persist after the data is officially deleted or the virtual host is moved.
Zero-wipe drives is a method where all data on the disk is overwritten with zeroes to prevent data recovery, but this can be a time-consuming process and might not be supported automatically by the infrastructure-as-a-service provider. On the other hand, data masking can protect sensitive data by obscuring it, but it doesn't prevent data remnants. Spanning multiple virtual disks to fragment data is also not a recommended practice for preventing data remanence as fragments of data could still be recoverable.
The best practice for combating data remanence includes implementing centralized management of encryption keys and ensuring the team is trained on proper data handling procedures. Additionally, working with the cloud service provider to understand their data deletion policies and what measures they take to mitigate data remanence is crucial.