[PLUG] Re: Disk Wipe on Linux

[Wil Cooley]

On Wed, 2005-04-20 at 11:48 -0700, Russell Senior wrote:

> You might check out GNU shred.  I recall long ago Wil Cooley told me
> it wasn't reliable, but I've forgotten why.  See:
> 
>   <http://www.gnu.org/software/fileutils/doc/manual/html/fileutils.html#shred%20invocation>

Nothing is wholly reliable aside from physical destruction of the media
(and even that may be subject to just how much money someone would want
to spend trying to put the pieces back together).

I'm much less of an absolutist these days; partial protection is better
than none, as long as you are aware of the shortcomings.  (An attitude
I've developed after many years of reading inane responses to "Ask
Slashdot" questions.)  A software wipe is good enough for the DoD in all
but the most classified cases; it's good enough for HIPAA or Sarbanes-
Oxley and therefore it's probably good enough to wipe your own personal
data, even if it's full of your own financial and medical records.

Wil
-- 
Wil Cooley                                 wcooley at nakedape.cc
Naked Ape Consulting                        http://nakedape.cc
* * * * Linux, UNIX, Networking and Security Solutions * * * *
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