Disk Wipe Methods

[KRFinch at dstsystems.com]

Brian-

At the level that an electron microscope reads at, there is a great deal of
space between data tracks.  Reading erased data off was described to me as
being as easy as following a set of footprints on an empty beach.
Admittedly, you will really have to WANT to get the data off to go through
the trouble, but if it's worth millions to you, it could easily be worth
the trouble.  This has been brought up in this forum before; it's in the
archives.

Like I said before, if you have found an erasure method you are happy with,
go for it.  If keeping separate drives isn't worth it to you for whatever
reason, don't do it.  Do what you want to, it's your client.  Just please
don't ridicule me for recommending a way of securing your data when that is
precisely what you asked for.

Thanks!

- Kevin

                                                                                                    
                   
                    "Brian Densmore"                                                                
                   
                    <DensmoreB at ctbsonline.       To:     <kclug at kclug.org>                          
                   
                    com>                         cc:                                                
                   
                    Sent by:                     Subject:     RE: Disk Wipe Methods                 
                   
                    owner-kclug at marauder.i                                                          
                   
                    lliana.net                                                                      
                   
                                                                                                    
                   
                                                                                                    
                   
                    01/21/2003 11:09 AM                                                             
                   
                                                                                                    
                   
                                                                                                    
                   

I find it hard to believe that if a person wipes a disk, fills it with
random numbers and then wipes it again and wipes it with 1s and 0s that
any person could use an electron microscope to determine what was on the
system before other than the last set of numbers. I'd have to see an
example of this. And how many people are going to destroy a hard drive
to put it under an electron microscope to retrieve the data? assuming
they even have access to an electron microscope. Someone who is going
through this kind of trouble has already bugged your office and knows
all your data anyway. This is in the realm of super-mega-paranoia. lol.
Or falls into the realm of pseudo-science. Sounds reasonable until you
look at it under a microscope.

Brian

> -----Original Message-----
> From: KRFinch at dstsystems.com [mailto:KRFinch at dstsystems.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 9:00 AM
> To: Dustin Decker
> Cc: kclug at kclug.org
> Subject: Re: Disk Wipe Methods
>
>
>
> There's no way to take data off of the disk so it can't be
> read by someone
> willing to spend the money to do it.  After talking to a
> friend of mine
> that worked in Naval Intelligence about it, he said that he
> wouldn't even
> start to feel comfortable about covering his tracks until he had
> overwritten all of the tracks on the disk at least 1500 times.  It's
> amazing what you can pull off a drive with an electron microscope.
>
> Don't take the risk.  Disks are cheap compared to the cost of losing a
> client or getting sued.  Buy a new one for each client.
>
> My $0.02...
>
> - Kevin
>
>
>
>
>
>                     Dustin Decker
>
>                     <dustind at moon-lite.com       To:
> kclug at kclug.org
>                     >                            cc:
>
>                     Sent by:                     Subject:
> Disk Wipe Methods
>                     owner-kclug at marauder.i
>
>                     lliana.net
>
>
>
>
>
>                     01/20/2003 03:13 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Howdy all,
> I have an intersting project on my plate at the day job.
> Once in a blue
> moon (prolly more like each full moon) we overnight a 30GB Iomega USB
> drive to a client, they put a backup of their database on it
> (between 4
> and 10 GB) and ship it back to us.
>
> Eventually, the drive will be sent to another client.  We're
> dealing with
> personally identifiable information in the health care mode
> here, so in
> the interest of avoiding a HIPAA snaufu I'm quite serious
> about ensuring
> that there aren't any traces of the previous clients' db on
> the drive when
> it ships.  I've been making use of BCWipe on the Windows platform to
> accomplish this to the DoD 5200.28 standard, but I'm interested in
> throwing this on a Linux box to get it done as this is an
> extremely time
> consuming process.  (Would prefer to start it on Linux and walk away.)
>
> Any suggestions on utilities in the Linux world that can do this?
> Dustin
>
> --
> *-----------------------------------*
> | Dustin Decker                     |
> | dustind at moon-lite.com
> *-----------------------------------------*
> | http://www.dustindecker.com | Even in evil, we discern rays
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> | Moon-Lite Computing         | and hope, and gradually come
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> | 913.579.7117                | in suffering and temptation,
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>
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