Erase hard drive according to DOD specification to prevent
identity theftWARNING: This should be of great concern to if you have ever replaced a
hard drive, traded your old computer for a new one, given away your
old machine, or dumped an old computer.
Research done by MIT grad students showed that even if your drive
has been deleted, formatted, and even damaged, important data such as
credit card numbers, passwords, financial documents can still be
retrieved - unless you completely erase the hard drive. How do you
wipe a hard drive so clean that all sensitive information previously
stored on it can never be retrieved? Who would think that an old
drive that used to be in an ATM would still contain (supposedly) some
3,000 credit card numbers after it has been deleted and discarded?
Well, some folks are finding out the hard way, that the delete command
in your operating system is not an eraser software or evidence
eliminator. Delete Doesn't Necessarily Mean Erase
When you delete a file or folder, Windows (or the operating system)
simply removes it's record keeping information on the the file. The
information is left lying around on the drive - only the file table
information is removed. This is a good thing if you are interested
in forensically retrieving deleted information. See the article
recovering a deleted file on
this site. You need to carefully execute an erase hard drive
procedure when you wish to replace a hard drive or a computer, or this
data preservation characteristic can work against you. How then do
you really delete to complete erase your digital tracks?
Here's a simple analogy. If you walk alone along a sandy beach
strip that has just been run over by a leveling wave you will clearly
see one set of footprints. However, if you were in a marathon with
200 other runners behind you, and they take the same path across the
beach, you would not be able to identify your footprints - at least
not so easily. The magnetic imprint of the data bits left on the
drive media after a delete can be removed after several layers of
overwrite operations. The Department of Defense has established a
standard of a seven layer overwrite (minimum) to completely remove
data so it cannot be recovered. This specification is used by many
experts in producing window washer or evidence eliminator software.
So a complete clean hard drive that already been used requires several
passes by the eraser program in order to erase sensitive data from the
hard drive. How about physically destroying the hard drive?
Well, you could let down the sledgehammer (as the saying goes).
This would make the drive inoperable.
However, a forensic data recover specialist trained in recovering
data from damaged media may still be able to piece bits and pieces of
the 'story' from a battered hard drive. Moreover, it is a wasteful
operation. There are great erase hard drive programs that can far
exceed the DOD's specification in evidence elimination. So why destroy
a good hard drive? Completely Erase Hard Drive With CyberScrub
CyberScrub has received rave reviews. CBS Market Watch carries an
article in which an official of the company was quoted in commenting
on the distinction of this evidence eliminator software.
"Our programs offer many different layers of
overwriting," says Bill Adler, president of Atlanta-based CyberScrub.
"It depends on the level of security you feel is required. Do you want
one lock on the door or four?" CyberScrub is a company in Atlanta,
GA. You can download a free trial of their hard drive and file eraser
software from their site. Here is the
link to CyberScrub erase hard drive free download.
Another Option for the Geeky Ones
If you are a geek and you're up to the challenge, the MIT
researcher who tested the old hard drives says there is a free file
you can use to clean your drive as well. Here is the link to the site for
the
autoclave files.
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