Re: dod wipe

marksouth wrote:
On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:33:31 -0500, Chris Cox wrote:

fname wrote:
Looking for a tool to wipe disks fast.

Don't you wish you'd done your homework challenge before the weekend?

Uh... no such tool. If the data is VERY sensitive, physical destruction
of the media is recommended. Anything else that can do it "fast" will
likely end up doing enough damage that you might as well be sure and go
all the way.

Physical destruction can simply result in pieces which an enemy could
piece together again.

To be really sure about magnetic media, they need to be heated to
slightly above their Curie point for a few minutes. The necessary ovens
are not easy to come by.

But physical destruction does come in many forms... and I dare say
that if the number of "pieces" is over a thousand, it's highly unlikely
that the reassemble process will be feasible (how do you know you have
ALL of the pieces... and I doubt anyone could make sense of it all).


Alternatively, you can go the slow route and make 5 passes over the data
writing randomly.

The experts (eg, Darik) recommend at least 17 passes to make decently
sure.

Yep.. regardless.. it's going to be REALLY slow. Physical destruction
is the safest/fastest. Since the "experts" are now saying 17 passes (up
from what it was just a few years ago), I'd say the "wipe" technique
is too error prone to satisfy a safety/security requirement.

.

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