Security Basics mailing list archives
RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing
From: "Joel A. Folkerts" <jfolkert () hiwaay net>
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:53:29 -0500
Nothing should be left after running that command - in theory, the entire physical disk would be wiped with zeros. Using publically available forensic software, nothing will be recoverable after running this command. To my knowledge, the only possible exception would be a Host Protected Area (HPA)[1] which requires additional steps to detect and adequately destroy. I am not familiar with the OSX utility that you mentioned; however, one pass of zeros is sufficient. Many people wrongly assume that using multiple wipes is somehow more secure against data recovery efforts. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_Protected_Area -----Original Message----- From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com] On Behalf Of cosynmr () googlemail com Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 3:37 PM To: security-basics () securityfocus com Subject: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Can someone explain why anything would be left after running : dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda Wouldn't this write zeros across the entire disk? How could anything be recovered afterward? I see osx disk utility can with write zeros once, or write zeros many times. Is there any advantage in multiple writes?
Current thread:
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Anshuman G (Sep 04)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Joel A. Folkerts (Sep 04)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Steve Olive (Sep 06)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing gjgowey (Sep 04)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers (Sep 11)
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Craig Wright (Sep 11)
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Murda Mcloud (Sep 11)
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing William Holmberg (Sep 11)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers (Sep 12)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing gjgowey (Sep 12)
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Craig Wright (Sep 12)
- RE: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing William Holmberg (Sep 12)
- Re: Advice regarding servers and Wiping Drives after testing Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers (Sep 11)