RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities?

[[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stevie A. Jones)]

That issue was addressed a week or two ago.  There is no magic number for
wiping a disk clean. The DOD has recommendations and standards for disposal.
A good and (IMO) definitive article can be found here
http://computer.org/security/v1n1/garfinkel3.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Debois [mailto:Patrick.Debois_at_sos.be]
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 12:50 PM
To: security-basics_at_securityfocus.com
Subject: RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities?

<p>I've heard on a radio show there was a study that the number of erases
should be 13 (based on the material of the drive). Nothing to recover only
with computers but rather with microscopes.

If anyone knows a pointer to that research....

On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, David Verty wrote:

<em class="quotelev1">> Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 03:10:58 +0000
<em class="quotelev1">> From: David Verty <verticalrave_at_hotmail.com>
<em class="quotelev1">> To: security-basics_at_securityfocus.com
<em class="quotelev1">> Subject: RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities?
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">> There is a whole thread on ExtremeTech about this I believe...and it
<em class="quotelev1">> stretches on for a long run. You might find some useful information there,
<em class="quotelev1">> like DoD (Department of Defense) standards, and software that exceeds it
for
<em class="quotelev1">> deletation of files.
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">> What the government does right now to permanently get rid of data is shred
<em class="quotelev1">> the disk in a metal shredder.
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">> Are there any programs for secure deletation? Never heard of any really
that
<em class="quotelev1">> were extremely good.
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">> And i've heard of hard disks storing everything in so called 'layers' (you
<em class="quotelev1">> have to rewrite your disk three or four times+ with phony data to truly
get
<em class="quotelev1">> rid of everything.) but the edge thing is something i've never heard
about.
<em class="quotelev1">> Interesting. Somebody on ExtremeTech also mentioned that since the signals
<em class="quotelev1">> are theoretically magnetic, its possible to extract the strength of the
<em class="quotelev1">> previous magnetic signal (though weak) and rebuild the data from there.
<em class="quotelev1">> Whatever validity that has i'm not so sure.
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev2">> >From: "MacFerrin, Ken" <Ken_MacFerrin_at_csgsystems.com>
<em class="quotelev2">> >To: <security-basics_at_securityfocus.com>
<em class="quotelev2">> >Subject: RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities?
<em class="quotelev2">> >Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 11:20:16 -0600
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >There are dozens of tools that will "clean" your hard drive by
overwriting
<em class="quotelev2">> >your data in various patterns and such and most any of those will give
you
<em class="quotelev2">> >"decent" security, but.. none of those are going to make the data
<em class="quotelev2">> >irretrievable to someone with the right equipment.
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >I'm no expert but the basics of being able to retrieve data stem from the
<em class="quotelev2">> >fact that when the HDD head overwrites the data it's never able to
<em class="quotelev2">> >perfectly write along the same track that it did when writing the
original
<em class="quotelev2">> >data.  This leaves an "edge" of data that wasn't quite overwritten and
that
<em class="quotelev2">> >"edge" is enough for someone with a basic setup (about 1500 USD) of
<em class="quotelev2">> >specific equipment to go back and pull the original 1's and 0's off the
<em class="quotelev2">> >disk..  The only way to truly "clean" the disk is using equipment
<em class="quotelev2">> >specifically designed to drive the head at a higher voltage to create a
<em class="quotelev2">> >wider write track and re-write random patterns many times.  From what I
<em class="quotelev2">> >understand though even these re-writes will leave some residue that could
<em class="quotelev2">> >be picked up by some high-end gear and a skilled operator.
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >Essentially, if the data was really that sensitive, you need to
physically
<em class="quotelev2">> >destroy the disk..
<em class="quotelev2">> >-Ken
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >-----Original Message-----
<em class="quotelev2">> >From: Joris De Donder [mailto:joris_at_digitaldefense.be]
<em class="quotelev2">> >Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:21 AM
<em class="quotelev2">> >To: 'security-basics_at_securityfocus.com'
<em class="quotelev2">> >Cc: Champion, Steve
<em class="quotelev2">> >Subject: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities?
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev3">> > > Would someone please throw out a URL and suggestions for free Windows
<em class="quotelev2">> >XP,
<em class="quotelev3">> > > hard drive wiping utility's?
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >quote:
<em class="quotelev2">> >   "Eraser is a secure data removal tool, which allows you to remove
<em class="quotelev2">> >    sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it with carefully
<em class="quotelev2">> >    selected patterns.
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >    The program is free software, which means that everyone has
<em class="quotelev2">> >    access to the source code,..."
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >
<em class="quotelev2">> >Joris De Donder
<em class="quotelev1">>
<em class="quotelev1">>
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