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  • New News About Secure Delete (wiping)

    From warmfuzzy@700:100/37 to All on Thu Sep 8 19:08:10 2022
    It has come to my attention that wiping a drive with zeros (zero'ing out a drive) does not actually provide a sufficient degree of security in keeping your data safe. I've learned that using some commercial software hard drives can be made to reveal the data that they store even though zeros are written over their data. This is because of "offset" --- the HDD would compensate to the zero'ing of the drive by using forensic technology that reads the remainder of the electromagnetic signature, so get the magnetic write, minus the zero'ing, and you're left with the data that was there before without much or any loss in the retrieved data at all. Its quite a tricky thing but it works. So when you're secure deleting your files I'd recommend (at the very least) to do a PRNG (pseudo-number generator) of three wipes with a zero-ing out after the PRNG is done. I hope this helps keep your data secure.

    Cheers!
    -warmfuzzy

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/13 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (700:100/37)
  • From k9zw@700:100/69 to warmfuzzy on Thu Sep 8 15:21:00 2022
    On 08 Sep 2022, warmfuzzy said the following...

    It has come to my attention that wiping a drive with zeros (zero'ing out
    a drive) does not actually provide a sufficient degree of security in keeping your data safe. I've learned that using some commercial
    software hard drives can be made to reveal the data that they store even though zeros are written over their data. This is because of "offset"

    Degaussing and crushing may seem extreme, but likely it is the only way to securely delete.

    --- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/02/11 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: SPOT BBS / k9zw (700:100/69)
  • From osito@700:100/71 to warmfuzzy on Fri Sep 9 06:25:03 2022
    Well Hillary Clinton was advised to physically drill holes into the hard drives to destroy the data. Now we just have to wonder if she was poorly advised or not? :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS >> 20ForBeers.com:1337 (700:100/71)
  • From k9zw@700:100/69 to osito on Wed Oct 19 19:44:57 2022
    On 09 Sep 2022, osito said the following...

    Well Hillary Clinton was advised to physically drill holes into the hard drives to destroy the data. Now we just have to wonder if she was poorly advised or not? :)

    That upsets the physical balance, making transplant and analysis just that much harder.

    Commercially I have seen stick welders used to burn through the entire drive after it was degaussed. Quick and easy.

    Smacking drives with a sledge is a bit frustrating, as it takes a bit to break them up and you are never really sure. But it also works (at least to a commercial level.)

    --- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: SPOT BBS / k9zw (700:100/69)
  • From Greenlfc@700:100/71 to k9zw on Mon Oct 24 06:38:53 2022
    On 19 Oct 2022, k9zw said the following...

    Smacking drives with a sledge is a bit frustrating, as it takes a bit to break them up and you are never really sure. But it also works (at
    least to a commercial level.)

    I once was on a job in Hawaii, swapping out machines for a bank. Because of the nature of working on the island, we couldn't get a disposal company to give us a CoD on the old devices, which is required for banking regulations. So, we left all of the PCs for the branch manager to deal with and took a box of hard drives to our (relatively up-scale) hotel to smash over a bottle of Jameson.

    I'm not sure our neighbors were amused.

    That said, at least for spinners it's pretty easy to tell when you've smashed them enough; they sound like a box full of sand. Modern SSDs you need to disassemble the drive, identify the memory module, and smash it, to have any certainty of success with your kinetic wipe.

    GreenLFC º e> greenleaderfanclub@protonmail.com
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    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS >> 20ForBeers.com:1337 (700:100/71)