(this guy ain't tellin' NO tales)
Posted on 06/04/2005 7:53:11 AM PDT by new cruelty
In revising the O&O Study, 'Data Data Everywhere,' 200 used hard disks were purchased on eBay and scanned for existing data. On more than 70% of this used storage media O&O discovered some sort of personal or business data. In some cases, the data found were quite staggering. The O&O Study describes the reasons why data are not securely deleted and presents solutions for improving data security for both private and business users.
The Berlin-based O&O Software is today releasing its freshly updated study, "Data Data Everywhere 2005." This particular study tackles the issues concerning the secure deletion of personal and company data on used storage volumes that have been discarded or resold. In order to gather data for this study, 200 hard disks were bought and scanned for all deleted data still accessible on them.
Enlisting the help of such standard store-bought products as O&O UnErase or O&O DiskRecovery, data could easily be detected and then made accessible on more than 70% of the tested hard disks. Of the 3.3 million files found on these test drives, analysts at O&O were able to reconstruct more than 40,000 Word Documents, about 15,000 Excel Spreadsheets, and around 50 e-mail mailboxes containing their entire message stashes still intact from previous users.
The results in 2005 are alarming. Even if the rate of recovered data has slightly fallen in comparison to the results of the 2004 study, the integrity of the found and recovered data is still very high.
Because a growing number of common daily tasks today are done with the aid of a computer or the Internet, used hard disks can open a window into the private or professional lives of their previous owners. From important marriage documents and appointments made by e-mail, to scanned credit cards and work or school performance evaluations, documents of every kind have been found.
But private users are not the only ones that exercise a lack of precaution with their data. The same has been found to be the case with companies and institutions. As this study shows, even large and well-staffed companies have been known to release sensitive data by way of discarded hard disks. In one particular case, a number of files concerning credit ratings at a large bank were found. It is doubtful that the tagline "Highly Confidential" would succeed at stopping any would-be readers from having a look.
In fact, the study proves that companies and institutions need improvement when it comes to deleted data security. On the majority of hard disks tested in this year's test group, O&O was able to gain easy access to sensitive data of all kinds, confirming again the results of last year's study.
In addition, the study covers the potential causes leading to inadequate data protection. Next to careless user behavior on the computer, the main cause cited in the study is the simple lack of user knowledge. This lack of knowledge is only exacerbated by commonly believed myths, not the least of which is the myth that the formatting of a hard disk means the secure deletion of all of its data.
To prevent the danger of such misuse, the study presents users with tips for improving the protection of their data on their hard disks. Simple and easily implemented software solutions, such as O&O SafeErase, are suggested here as the best methods for achieve such improvements.
How about if you use old hard drives for target practice?
Could someone still get the data off of it?
I ask that not know what a hard drive looks like.
I have never had this problem. Before disposing of a computer I take out the hard drive and toss it in a fire. End of data.
Yeah, I can't imagine selling a hard drive, but maybe that's because mine is so old...
(this guy ain't tellin' NO tales)
Here's one. I imagine some super sleuth would be able to get the data off of a hard drive that was used for target practice. I guess it depends on the artillery used.
Our department at work uses a PC on average for six years. After six years, technology has changed so much that if an aftermarket exists for used hard drives, it is too expensive to sell them to make the sale cost beneficial.
When my boss asked how to ensure that data was unrecoverable when throwing the drives away, I said, "Software to positively erase data and the time required to use it on each drive are costs we won't have to incur. I'll drive two ten-penny nails through each drive before throwing them away."
It's amazing how many drives you can make completely unreadable in about twenty minutes. Just try to recover a directory of any type from a bent, pierced platter...and the therapeutic benefits for me are immeasurable.
Computer componant target practice ping.
I smash it then drop it into a water-bleach solution.
O&O Safe Erase (a German product) is $45, which isn't too bad.
http://www.oo-software.com/en/index.html
Eraser 5.7 is Freeware, and appears to be well recommended. As a rule the Nerds at BetaNews are knowledgeable about such matters:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Eraser/1010751436/1
And then shoot holes in it?
And then dump it in bleach?
and then pee on it.
Ok, that was mean.
Here is what we did at CENTCOM
We had a 5 foot tall "thumper". More or less what it did was magnetize the hard drives to the point that the data was horrendously scrambled. Magnetic data does not like other magnetic fields.
After that, the hard drives were melted down or used for traning. Once a hard drive is used, you can NEVER completely erase the data, you can only destroy the hard drive.
and for you Lead, shooting it would only destroy the data where the bullet hits. Depending on the type of hard drive it may do the job. However, it also may not. But please don't get me into striped drives :)
Can You Read Me Now?
Thanks. The answer is either a very big magnet or very small buckshot.
Just take them apart and use them for paperweights.
I knew a guy that worked for Seagate. He had some piece of diagnostic equipment that would read/write to test drives. He showed us how you could plug a drive into it and it’d start going through its diagnostic procedure – zero errors, zero errors, zero errors – on and on.
Then on the top of the drive was a little aluminum-tape looking seal. He pulled it off which exposed a little hole in the cover. It started recording errors almost instantly and they grew in number so quickly that within three minutes or so the test machine was showing virtually ALL errors.
He said that the lesson here was to never open one up unless you’re in a clean-room. I don’t know what exactly screwed it up. I’m guessing it was just microscopic stuff floating around in the air – and the hole wasn’t that big either. Maybe slightly smaller than a pencil would make if you jammed it into the cover.
Every few months I burn brush on my property. Old paper files make good kindling and when the fire is burning really well I toss the old hard drives in. I am fairly certain that no data will ever be retrieved from the small slags of metal that I pull out of the ashes the next day.
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