[opensuse] a thought about file wiping tools
All, I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse. In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting. In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old). It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address: - file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues. Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above? If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions. Greg -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer) -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer)
Pedantic nitpick with the English, well Latin actually. That 'i.e' should be 'e.g.'. Much as I enjoyed smashing a couple of old disks with my sledgehammer last weekend, I'm looking forward to using a blowtorch next time (since I don't have a blast furnace at home) :) Mind you, that makes WEEE compliance much more difficult! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 11:15 +0100, Dave Howorth wrote:
Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer)
Pedantic nitpick with the English, well Latin actually. That 'i.e' should be 'e.g.'.
I will nit pick one further. There are spaces between the abbreviated words (as between all words), and a comma after the two abbreviated words, i. e., "e. g., " Source: Publication Guide of the American Psychological Society, who are rather pedantic on these issues. I suspect similar publishing guidelines would suggest similar usage. Even LibreOffice gets this correct in the spell checker. Will wonders ever cease? Yours sincerely, Roger Oberholtzer Ramböll RST / Systems Office: Int +46 10-615 60 20 Mobile: Int +46 70-815 1696 roger.oberholtzer@ramboll.se ________________________________________ Ramböll Sverige AB Krukmakargatan 21 P.O. Box 17009 SE-104 62 Stockholm, Sweden www.rambollrst.se -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 18/09/12 11:40, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 11:15 +0100, Dave Howorth wrote:
Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer)
Pedantic nitpick with the English, well Latin actually. That 'i.e' should be 'e.g.'.
I will nit pick one further. There are spaces between the abbreviated words (as between all words), and a comma after the two abbreviated words, i. e., "e. g., "
Source: Publication Guide of the American Psychological Society, who are rather pedantic on these issues. I suspect similar publishing guidelines would suggest similar usage. Even LibreOffice gets this correct in the spell checker. Will wonders ever cease?
British English usage would omit the space and possibly the middle full stop: e.g., eg. Dylan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 11:15 +0100, Dave Howorth wrote:
Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above? No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer) Pedantic nitpick with the English, well Latin actually. That 'i.e' should be 'e.g.'.
I will nit pick one further. There are spaces between the abbreviated words (as between all words), and a comma after the two abbreviated words, i. e., "e. g., "
Source: Publication Guide of the American Psychological Society, who are rather pedantic on these issues. I suspect similar publishing guidelines would suggest similar usage. Even LibreOffice gets this correct in the spell checker. Will wonders ever cease?
I have to disagree with half of that. I have never seen spaces used in these abbreviations. Certainly after individual abbreviated words in a sentence but not in a sequence like e.g. or i.e. My style manuals are all at home, so I have to rely on my memory but I did spend quite a while writing documents with professional editors, so I'm fairly confident. I have worked with both American and British style guides and never seen a space used. LibreOffice doesn't comment regardless of whether I use a space or not Looking at the apastyle website, I see they do NOT use a space themselves as towards the bottom of http://www.apastyle.org/learn/quick-guide-on-formatting.aspx Do you have an exact reference? I agree that a comma after the abbreviation would be usual, though it is frequently omitted. Dylan wrote:
British English usage would omit the space and possibly the middle full stop: e.g., eg.
Omitting the middle stop is commonly done in informal English but is not usual in formal style guides, AFAIK. And of course my substantive original nitpick was that a hammer was one example of ways to destroy a disk, rather than the only possible method. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Roger Oberholtzer said the following on 09/18/2012 06:40 AM:
I will nit pick one further. There are spaces between the abbreviated words (as between all words), and a comma after the two abbreviated words, i. e., "e. g., "
Fowler points out that the following comma "is nether necessary not wrong". Partridge on "Abusage" has nothing to say. "Webster's Dictionary of English Usage" begins by pointing out that "i.e." and "e.g." are often confused with each other in use and reference. Both are abbreviations and the normal usage is to have a period after each abbreviated word. "I.e." is an abbreviation for /id est/, and that being two word one would expect a space as in "i. e.". My Chicago manual of Style has an extensive section on the correct form of abbreviations covering everything from "Mr. & Mrs." to scientific units, and prefers "i.e.," and "e.g.,". All that being said in most usage - including Fowler and Webster's - seems, rightly or wrongly, to prefer "e.g.," and "i.e.,". -- HTTP is like being married: you have to be able to handle whatever you're given, while being very careful what you send back. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 08:19:34 schrieb Anton Aylward:
All that being said in most usage - including Fowler and Webster's - seems, rightly or wrongly, to prefer "e.g.," and "i.e.,".
In German abbreviations etc. are/can be separated with a thin space. Yet since there is no key for that on a keyboard only professional layouts have it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_space Sven -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 14:34 +0200, Sven Burmeister wrote:
Am Dienstag, 18. September 2012, 08:19:34 schrieb Anton Aylward:
All that being said in most usage - including Fowler and Webster's - seems, rightly or wrongly, to prefer "e.g.," and "i.e.,".
In German abbreviations etc. are/can be separated with a thin space. Yet since there is no key for that on a keyboard only professional layouts have it.
I suspect this is the case with i.<ts>e., (the new text representation I will now champion) and friends. I wonder how easiest to get thin spaces in to documents so I can create new adventures in desktop publishing... Yours sincerely, Roger Oberholtzer Ramböll RST / Systems Office: Int +46 10-615 60 20 Mobile: Int +46 70-815 1696 roger.oberholtzer@ramboll.se ________________________________________ Ramböll Sverige AB Krukmakargatan 21 P.O. Box 17009 SE-104 62 Stockholm, Sweden www.rambollrst.se -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Quoting Roger Oberholtzer <roger@opq.se>:
On Tue, 2012-09-18 at 11:15 +0100, Dave Howorth wrote:
Cristian Rodríguez wrote:
On 17/09/12 20:58, Greg Freemyer wrote:
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
No, the only "solution" for that is media destruction. (i.e a hammer)
Pedantic nitpick with the English, well Latin actually. That 'i.e' should be 'e.g.'.
I will nit pick one further. There are spaces between the abbreviated words (as between all words), and a comma after the two abbreviated words, i. e., "e. g., "
Source: Publication Guide of the American Psychological Society, who are rather pedantic on these issues. I suspect similar publishing guidelines would suggest similar usage. Even LibreOffice gets this correct in the spell checker. Will wonders ever cease?
On the other hand, "A Manual of Style" by University of Chicago Press, another frequently used reference does not put spaces in these abbreviations. Given that this is not a scholarly publication of either persuasion, this nitpicking is perhaps too nit picky. IMHO, of course. Jeffrey -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 09/18/2012 08:24 PM, Jeffrey L. Taylor wrote:
On the other hand, "A Manual of Style" by University of Chicago Press, another frequently used reference does not put spaces in these abbreviations. Given that this is not a scholarly publication of either persuasion, this nitpicking is perhaps too nit picky. IMHO, of course.
I thought nit picking, by definition, had to be, well, nit picking. My response was really meant in humor. I am stuck writing sales brochures, which can drive anyone over the edge. I needed a distraction. Mission accomplished. Or, as I would have said back in the days when I lived at home, "He started it!". And my brother usually did. Really. Humor. At least to me... But I did learn about thin spaces. Anyone know Stephen Fry's e-mail address? I would trust his opinion on all this. -- Roger Oberholtzer -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 18/09/12 20:23, Roger Oberholtzer wrote:
Anyone know Stephen Fry's e-mail address? I would trust his opinion on all this.
Not an email address, but you could try his blog at http://www.stephenfry.com/ -- Bob Williams Sent from my laptop -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 09/18/2012 01:58 AM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Speaking for coreutils' shred, it already warns in the info page: The best way to remove something irretrievably is to destroy the media it's on with acid, melt it down, or the like. For cheap removable media like floppy disks, this is the preferred method. [...] If you are not sure how your file system operates, then you should assume that it does not overwrite data in place, which means that shred cannot reliably operate on regular files in your file system. Generally speaking, it is more reliable to shred a device than a file, [...] Finally, consider the risk of backups and mirrors. File system backups and remote mirrors may contain copies of the file that cannot be removed, and that will allow a shredded file to be recovered later. So if you keep any data you may later want to destroy using `shred', be sure that it is not backed up or mirrored. Plus there's a link to Peter Gutmann's page: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html Have a nice day, Berny -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 9/17/12 6:58 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions.
Greg
I don't know about a tool, but I think writing random data to a drive should do the trick. Once, or maybe a couple of times. I saw this in an article yesterday, not related to wiping per se, but should work. ----- dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda – Writes Junk Onto a Hard Drive The dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda line will also obliterate the data on one of your hard drives. dd – Perform low-level copying from one location to another. if=/dev/random – Use /dev/random (random data) as the input – you may also see locations such as /dev/zero (zeros). of=/dev/sda – Output to the first hard disk, replacing its file system with random garbage data. ----- You could also delete everything first, but I don't think that is necessary. Writing random data should do it. Here's a link to the article if anyone is interested. http://www.howtogeek.com/125157/8-deadly-commands-you-should-never-run-on-li... Apologies before hand if my grammar is not up to snuff ;) Jim F -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/17/12 6:58 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions.
Greg
I don't know about a tool, but I think writing random data to a drive should do the trick. Once, or maybe a couple of times.
I saw this in an article yesterday, not related to wiping per se, but should work.
-----
dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda – Writes Junk Onto a Hard Drive
That is obviously designed to wipe an entire drive, not spot clean a single file like srm, shred, and wipe can in theory do. fyi: That will also abort on a write error. Not very cool if you want to ensure you're actually wiping the full drive. Greg -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Hello, I need one or more reliable applications, capable of measuring latency, packet loss, bandwidth and more on the network, Regards, Amaury. 10mo. ANIVERSARIO DE LA CREACION DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS CIENCIAS INFORMATICAS... CONECTADOS AL FUTURO, CONECTADOS A LA REVOLUCION http://www.uci.cu http://www.facebook.com/universidad.uci http://www.flickr.com/photos/universidad_uci -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2012-09-25 at 16:03 -0400, Amaury Viera Hernández wrote:
Hello, I need one or more reliable applications, capable of measuring latency, packet loss, bandwidth and more on the network,
We use ZenOSS for all network management and data recording stuff. <http://www.zenoss.com/> Easy to use and little to no crawling through retarded config files [this is 2012!].
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 2012-09-25 22:03, Amaury Viera Hernández wrote:
Hello, I need one or more reliable applications, capable of measuring latency, packet loss, bandwidth and more on the network, Regards, Amaury.
Please don't hijack a mail thread. You hit "reply" on a previous post, then change the subject: that's hijack and it shows. Instead start a new post addressed to the mail list.
- --
Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 12.1 x86_64 "Asparagus" at Telcontar) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.18 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://www.enigmail.net/ iEYEARECAAYFAlBiH5QACgkQIvFNjefEBxqLYwCgqpuJFsODJGLAt9EkubVyjIBZ EWEAoNy5gIU+sFMh/NTaZe+vVUBtn2XX =4Iba -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 9/25/12 2:55 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/17/12 6:58 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions.
Greg
I don't know about a tool, but I think writing random data to a drive should do the trick. Once, or maybe a couple of times.
I saw this in an article yesterday, not related to wiping per se, but should work.
-----
dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda – Writes Junk Onto a Hard Drive
That is obviously designed to wipe an entire drive, not spot clean a single file like srm, shred, and wipe can in theory do.
OK, I see more what you are looking for now. Wipe a singe file or directory. Hum. No sure about how Linux handles things, but on Windows, there are LOTS of remnants left over just by viewing a file. Delete and wipe a single file, and there are lots of places in Windows you can see what was opened, and some or all of what was in that file. All over the place. Perhaps Linux is not so sloppy (for lack of a better word). The only way I can see to get around this is whole drive encryption. With, or course, a very good password. The remnants would still be there but encrypted from prying eyes.
fyi: That will also abort on a write error. Not very cool if you want to ensure you're actually wiping the full drive.
I didn't realize it would abort on error. Definitely not optimal. Is there a command to add to force continue? Jim F -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/25/12 2:55 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/17/12 6:58 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions.
Greg
I don't know about a tool, but I think writing random data to a drive should do the trick. Once, or maybe a couple of times.
I saw this in an article yesterday, not related to wiping per se, but should work.
-----
dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda – Writes Junk Onto a Hard Drive
That is obviously designed to wipe an entire drive, not spot clean a single file like srm, shred, and wipe can in theory do.
OK, I see more what you are looking for now. Wipe a singe file or directory. Hum. No sure about how Linux handles things, but on Windows, there are LOTS of remnants left over just by viewing a file. Delete and wipe a single file, and there are lots of places in Windows you can see what was opened, and some or all of what was in that file. All over the place. Perhaps Linux is not so sloppy (for lack of a better word). The only way I can see to get around this is whole drive encryption. With, or course, a very good password. The remnants would still be there but encrypted from prying eyes.
fyi: That will also abort on a write error. Not very cool if you want to ensure you're actually wiping the full drive.
I didn't realize it would abort on error. Definitely not optimal. Is there a command to add to force continue?
Jim F
I "think" dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda conv=noerror But by design disk drives correct media errors on write by re-mapping the sectors. Thus when you have a write error, either: 1) Your drive has run out of spare sectors to re-map to. 2) You have a controller / cable / power / etc. issue that is keeping the writes from working. I have a client that does a lot of disk wiping via shred. I advise them that if a write error occurs, they should just physically destroy the drive instead of taking time to troubleshoot what the real cause of the problem is. Greg -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 9/26/12 11:35 AM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/25/12 2:55 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Jim Flanagan <linuxjim@jjfiii.com> wrote:
On 9/17/12 6:58 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
All,
I was just thinking about file wiping tools in opensuse.
In general file wiping tools are used if you have an important file you want to wipe (overwrite) before deleting.
In the distro we have shred and wipe that do this, and in OBS we have srm and secure-delete (10 years old).
It is clearly an issue that people are concerned about, but none of them seem to even try to address:
- file remnants which maybe in the filesystem journal - backup copies of the files in snapshots (LVM, btrfs, ext4 snapshots) - wiping of unallocated space to overwrite earlier drafts which may have been deleted but are still in unallocated - SSDs and there potential for sector remapping during the write operation. - the swap partition can hold copies of data that is unencrypted in ram
I realize a none of the above are trivial, but it seems they should make some effort to at least warn the user of the issues.
Does opensuse have a file wiping tool that attempts to sanitize any of the above?
If so, I'd like to create a simple wiki page that covers this topic. At present it seems the page will mostly discuss issues, and not have much in the way of solutions.
Greg
I don't know about a tool, but I think writing random data to a drive should do the trick. Once, or maybe a couple of times.
I saw this in an article yesterday, not related to wiping per se, but should work.
-----
dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda – Writes Junk Onto a Hard Drive
That is obviously designed to wipe an entire drive, not spot clean a single file like srm, shred, and wipe can in theory do.
OK, I see more what you are looking for now. Wipe a singe file or directory. Hum. No sure about how Linux handles things, but on Windows, there are LOTS of remnants left over just by viewing a file. Delete and wipe a single file, and there are lots of places in Windows you can see what was opened, and some or all of what was in that file. All over the place. Perhaps Linux is not so sloppy (for lack of a better word). The only way I can see to get around this is whole drive encryption. With, or course, a very good password. The remnants would still be there but encrypted from prying eyes.
fyi: That will also abort on a write error. Not very cool if you want to ensure you're actually wiping the full drive.
I didn't realize it would abort on error. Definitely not optimal. Is there a command to add to force continue?
Jim F
I "think" dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda conv=noerror
But by design disk drives correct media errors on write by re-mapping the sectors.
Thus when you have a write error, either:
1) Your drive has run out of spare sectors to re-map to.
2) You have a controller / cable / power / etc. issue that is keeping the writes from working.
I have a client that does a lot of disk wiping via shred. I advise them that if a write error occurs, they should just physically destroy the drive instead of taking time to troubleshoot what the real cause of the problem is.
Greg
All this reminds me of all the hard drives in modern copy machines. These are almost all unencrypted, and unwiped. Huge amount of older or off-lease machines sitting in warehouses, or re-delivered to other customers, all with huge amounts of private data on the drives. This is criminal to not have a wipe solution built in to these copiers. Jim F -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (14)
-
Adam Tauno Williams -
Amaury Viera Hernández -
Anton Aylward -
Bernhard Voelker -
Bob Williams -
Carlos E. R. -
Cristian Rodríguez -
Dave Howorth -
Dylan -
Greg Freemyer -
Jeffrey L. Taylor -
Jim Flanagan -
Roger Oberholtzer -
Sven Burmeister