Re: [Thinkpad] virus on memory chips -- erasing disks

I retired from the Government just a few years ago, and was with an agency
in Washington and Virginia that worried about such things. I can tell you
that story is true but was considered a joke... Never once were we able to
recover anything that had been overwritten and erased by the softwear we
used which had 29 passes... And a sledge hammer or a drill worked just
great. We used to have contests with those jerks who demanded total,
absolute security that included a free trip to Paris if they could recover
any usable data using our very sophisticated equipment. Nobody ever could.
But that was 2002... Perhaps after 2003 somebody invented a computer that
could piece back together the bits of data but I doubt it.

Using the 7 pass DOD process, it took months with a very good computer
system to recover anything on those drives... Months and hundreds of
thousands of dollars. The trick was to look at the edges of the write and
pass tracks, then use a computer to guess at what the data might have been.
As you increased the passes to 29, nothing would be usable... and that
software is available to the public now for right around $50.

You will see lots of stories in the annals of computer security. We knew
that most of them were untrue... just guys and gals trying to preserve high
paid jobs.

On 2/19/06, Rosen, Robert (NIH/NIAMS) [E] <rosenr@mail.nih.gov> wrote:
>
> Ted Frater wrote in part:
> >A waste as far as I am concerned.
> >If the data could be quickly ie in say 20
> >seconds of magnetic field
> >exposure do the job they would then be an asset .
> > what does anyone else know about this method?
> > thanks
> >Ted Frater.
> -----
>
> Based on my DOD experience, a magentic field strong enough to wipe the
> data destroys the drive motor as well. There's also (if you get deep enough
> into the forensic technology field) an ability to get data off disks that
> have had the DOD approved 7 write overs. So while the 7 times overwrite was
> approved for disks with secret info, disks with higher level info (e.g., Top
> Secret, Special Compartmented Intelligence (SCI), and even higher) had to be
> shredded. Not mashed but actually shredded into tiny tiny pieces)
>
> So it all depends on the level of sensitivity. Drilling a hole through the
> disk will prevent someone from sticking the disk into another machine and
> reading it but most of the data can be recovered if someone wants to spend
> the time and money.
>
> Robert
>
> --------------------------
> Robert Rosen
> CIO NIAMS - NIH
> Sent via Wireless Handheld
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--
Sweet is the memory of past troubles.
                                   Cicero, 43 BC
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