Security Basics mailing list archives
Re: HD memory wiper/shredder
From: Adam K <adamk1 () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 12:05:31 -0500
Is there any guarentee from the PC makers that the data will be destroyed ? As at the end of the day if they misplace a drive with your sensitive data, it is your reputation that will stand to be deteriorated. later, Adam On 4/28/05, Nostrom, Michael <nostrom () binghamton edu> wrote:
Just to drag the thread on a little longer I read this bite in my recent SANS email, thought it would be interesting reading for those interested. -Mike- --Rendering Drives Completely Unreadable Can be Difficult (20 April 2005) The National Association for Information Destruction has said it cannot endorse the use of wiping applications alone for ensuring that data have been effectively removed from hard drives. NAID executive director Bob Johnson said the only way to ensure that the data will be unreadable is to physically destroy the drives, and even that has to be done in certain ways to ensure its efficacy. Most major PC makers offer a drive destruction service for $20 or $30. Some hardware engineers say they understand why the drives have been created in a way that makes it hard to completely erase the data: customers demanded it because they were afraid of losing information they had stored on their drives. http://news.com.com/2102-1029_3-5676995.html?tag=st.util.print [Editor's Note (Pescatore): Cool, I want a "National Association for Information Destruction" tee shirt. How hard could it be to have an interlock feature - you can really, really clear the drive if you open the case, hold this button down while you delete? (Ranum): Peter Guttman, from New Zealand, did a terrific talk in 1997 at USENIX in which he showed electromicrographs of hard disk surfaces that had been "wiped" - you could still clearly see the 1s and 0s where the heads failed to line up perfectly on the track during the write/erase sequence. He also pointed out that you can tell more recently written data from less recently written data by the field strength in the area, which would actually make it much easier to tell what had been "wiped" versus what was persistent long-term store. The paper, minus the cool photos may be found at: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html Hard disks, I've found, make satisfying small arms targets.] -----Original Message----- From: Kinnell [mailto:kinnell.t () gmail com] Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:28 PM To: nc () phat co nz Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com Subject: Re: HD memory wiper/shredder This was more than helpful. Thank you all very much, and I'm sure we've all found out about quite a few we didn't know about before. thanks, Kinnell-----Original Message----- From: Kinnell [mailto:kinnell.t () gmail com] Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 2:06 PM To: security-basics () securityfocus com Subject: HD memory wiper/shredder Hey all. I recently had a friend ask me if I knew of any real good file shredders/wipers. He wants to be able to securely shred a file used for an encryption key after it is no longer needed at that location. I couldn't think of any off of the top of my head but I figured this list would be a great place to start. So does anyone know of a good shredder to use for this purpose? Freeware would be preferred. thanks, Kinnell
Current thread:
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder, (continued)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Shawn Parker (Apr 27)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder . (Apr 27)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder vulcanius (Apr 27)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Adam K (Apr 28)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Nostrom, Michael (Apr 26)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Beauford, Jason (Apr 26)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Rochford, Paul (Apr 26)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Capps, Chuck (Apr 27)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Kinnell (Apr 27)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Nostrom, Michael (Apr 28)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Adam K (Apr 29)
- RE: HD memory wiper/shredder Rochford, Paul (Apr 28)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Matthias Güntert (Apr 28)
- Re: HD memory wiper/shredder Matthias Güntert (Apr 29)