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RE: reformatting is not sufficient to completely wipe the drive

Posted by Tony Lauck (A) on June 24, 2014 at 11:26:40

In Reply to: reformatting is not sufficient to completely wipe the drive posted by Ugly on June 24, 2014 at 06:42:37:

If I were sure the disk had been compromised or if I were really paranoid then I would replace the hard drive. If the hard drive contained personal information that I didn't want anyone to ever see, then I would do what spook agencies do. After wiping the disk by software to the extent possible, I would smash the hardware to pieces, grind the pieces to dust and burn them. (Look at what the GCHQ made the Guardian do to the disks containing Snowden files.)

I would be especially worried about the computer BIOS. These used to be relatively secure because they were physically constructed so that their contents could not be changed by software, but this is no longer the case. Even something as innocent as a micro SD card contains a microprocessor with firmware. Hackers have taken over these cards and put various malware trap doors in them. I suspect the same thing can be done with hard drives by hacking the S.M.A.R.T. technology.

Thirty years ago I met a friend who as a teenager had escaped the Soviets at the end of WWII, fleeing with the Nazi's and watching his slightly slower friends get killed. He never used computers because he didn't trust them. At the time I thought he was slightly nuts, but because of subsequent developments I see that his paranoia was probably justified.



Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

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