Re: secure erasure of files?

From: Padraig Brady (padraig@antefacto.com)
Date: Tue Feb 12 2002 - 09:03:19 EST


And a patch to call it automatically:
http://www.tpgn.net/exploits/linux/secrm.kernel.patch.2.2.14.txt

On a related note is there any way to clear the unused portion
of the last block of a file. Obviously it's file system dependent,
but what happens in general on ext2?

Padraig.

Davidovac Zoran wrote:
> there is srm (secure rm) somewhere on the net
> here srm.sourceforge.net
> srm - secure file deletion for posix systems
>
> happy srm,
>
> Zoran
>
> srm is a secure replacement for rm(1). Unlike the standard rm, it
> overwrites the data in the target files before unlinking them. This
> prevents command-line recovery of the data by examining the raw block
> device. It may also help frustrate physical examination of the disk,
> although it's unlikely that it can completely prevent that type of
> recovery. It is, essentially, a paper shredder for sensitive files.
>
> srm is ideal for personal computers or workstations with Internet
> connections. It can help prevent malicious users from breaking in and
> undeleting personal files, such as old emails. It's also useful for
> permanently removing files from expensive media. For example, cleaning
> your diary off the zip disk you're using to send vacation pictures to
> Uncle Lou. Because it uses the exact same options as rm(1), srm is
> simple to use. Just subsitute it for rm whenever you want to destroy
> files, rather than just unlinking them.
>
>
> On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Roy Sigurd Karlsbakk wrote:
>
>
>>Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 14:12:49 +0100 (CET)
>>From: Roy Sigurd Karlsbakk <roy@karlsbakk.net>
>>To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
>>Subject: secure erasure of files?
>>
>>hi all
>>
>>Does anyone know if it'll be hard to enable a <em>secure</em> deletion of
>>files? What I mean is not merely overwriting it with NULLs, but rather
>>using a more sophisticated overwrite, like the IBAS ExpertEraser software
>>(http://www.ibas.com/erasure/)
>>
>>Is this hard/possible/doable?
>>
>>roy

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