data shredder

[Fred Roller]

Gilles Gravier wrote:
>
>> The other suggestions are good, and if you want a low-tech solution:
>>
>> 1) delete your files with rm as usual
>> 2) overwrite the empty disk space with zeroes or random data
>> Use either one of these commands:
>>
>> dd if=/dev/null of=nullfile bs=1M
>> dd if=/dev/random of=randomfile bs=1M
>>
>>     
> The problem with these commands, is that you're not really helping...
> Forensics tools will read below one or more levels of re-write. You need
> to do this several times in a row... and, more importantly, you need to
> use special data patterns that will actually make reading shadows of
> former data harder if not impossible. There are standards for that. And
> they do not involve writing random data or zeros, but actual specific
> patterns.
>
> Gilles.
>
>   
Amedee - I am used to the zero/random clearing of disks but not quite 
clear on why you create an empty image.  Could you clarify?

Gilles - Interesting point, could you expand on your thoughts?  What 
procedure would you use to clear data?  Does deleting from an encrypted 
fs (as you mentioned earlier) accomplish this pattern writing?

-- 
Fred
www.fwrgallery.com

"Life is like linux, simple.  If you are fighting it you are doing something wrong."