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Whatever Is On Imran Awan’s Smashed Hard Drives Likely Can Be Recovered
dailycaller.com ^ | Mark Tapscott

Posted on 08/01/2017 5:17:19 AM PDT by RoosterRedux

Somebody must have thought they were hiding something by smashing those computer hard-drives the FBI recovered from the home of Imran Awan, Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s former information technology (IT) aide.

But odds are excellent they were wrong. Federal law enforcement authorities may have already recovered and read whatever was on those hard drives.

“It depends on what happens, but even if it is hit with a hammer, it probably doesn’t damage the platters that actually hold the data, which remains recoverable,” said Tom Hakim, engineering supervisor for werecoverdata.com, a New York-based lab that specializes in difficult digital retrieval.

“In most cases, it’s very likely” the information on a smashed hard drive can be recovered “in two or three days, maybe a week,” Hakim said.

His lab, which does extensive work for law enforcement and Fortune 500 corporations, has also recovered data from disks that were in fires and that had been submerged in water.

That may be very bad news for Pakistani-born Imran. He and his younger brothers Abid and Jamal, his wife Hina Alvi and his best friend Rao Abbas are criminal suspects in a federal investigation first made public in February into abuse of the congressional IT servers, including the possible transfer of data, emails and files from the offices of dozens of House Democrats.

Imran had worked for Wasserman Schultz — who resigned in July 2016 as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after its IT system was hacked — since 2005. His relatives and friend had also worked on and off as IT aides, being paid collectively more than $4 million from 2009 to 2016.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 201607; abbas; awan; awanbrothers; cybersecurity; cyberwarfare; imranawan; itgate; its; lorton; marine; pakistan; pakistanis; roabbas
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1 posted on 08/01/2017 5:17:19 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

Let the truth be known.


2 posted on 08/01/2017 5:24:07 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Psalm 33:12)
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To: CodeToad; Joe Brower

Thoughts on smashed hard-drive viability?


3 posted on 08/01/2017 5:27:29 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: RoosterRedux

That is why the have shredders for destroying hard drives...
I can’t believe they didn’t make sure the drives were completely destroyed. Hillary! and her minions are usually pretty thorough.
I suppose the evidence will be “lost” at the FBI evidence room. The Lord knows the Left’s minions are everywhere.


4 posted on 08/01/2017 5:27:51 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: RoosterRedux

I still can’t believe that anyone would “destroy” a hard drive AND STILL KEEP IT IN THEIR HOME.

I think there is a good chance that the recovered data will be wonderful and patriotic and not at all problematic. Because it was planted.


5 posted on 08/01/2017 5:28:38 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Islam: You have to just love a "religion" based on rape and sex slavery.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Perhaps the government drives were cloned but the replacement clones contained back doors alowing surveliance

The smashed drives thus provide no clues except where to go to find the cloned communicating drives


6 posted on 08/01/2017 5:28:59 AM PDT by bert (K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column)
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To: RoosterRedux
A good forensic outfit could easily recover what was on the those drives. There was a talk at Def Con several years ago that discussed the retrievability of data from discarded media including 'smashed' hard drives. Nothing short of removing the platters from the housing and breaking them into bits, or burning them with thermite (or similar) will destroy them.

I am sure the bureau has ample DFIR talent in-house to retrieve whatever was on those drives. I just hope that the outcome of all this is the accountability we've all been thirsting for.
7 posted on 08/01/2017 5:29:16 AM PDT by softengine
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To: Travis McGee

oh, they can piece it together... and with forensics build a solid case against trump on collusion with russia.

oh sorry... no. nothing can be gained from the hard drive, they were wiped with a cloth or something.


8 posted on 08/01/2017 5:29:55 AM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: RoosterRedux

Criminal scumbags collecting information on members of Congress for blackmail.....sooooo Clintonesque.....it is about time people started going to jail for all the cyber crime in Washington, DC.


9 posted on 08/01/2017 5:29:59 AM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: RoosterRedux

If the hard drives contained incriminating evidence, why would he have left them behind in his home? This just doesn’t seem plausible to me. I doubt they will find anything damaging on them.


10 posted on 08/01/2017 5:34:47 AM PDT by deweyfrank (Nobody's Perfect)
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To: Travis McGee
Thoughts on smashed hard drive viability?

When I smash mine, the pieces are less than 1" x 1".

Depends on the smasher, and the smashing.

11 posted on 08/01/2017 5:36:08 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like?)
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To: Jim Noble

I think I’d drop it in a steel barrel, pour in a gallon of gasoline, and toss in a match.


12 posted on 08/01/2017 5:37:55 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: deweyfrank

He might have done a quick smashing when he saw police cars outside.


13 posted on 08/01/2017 5:38:23 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

In the winter, I’ve used the wood stove.

This leaves a lump the size of a cashew. Too hot to do that now (and, of course, I have nothing to hide).


14 posted on 08/01/2017 5:39:39 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Single payer is coming. Which kind do you like?)
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To: RoosterRedux

Where is Sessions?


15 posted on 08/01/2017 5:39:48 AM PDT by CincyRichieRich (We must never shut up. Covfefe: A great dish served piping hot!)
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To: Travis McGee

What they say here is true. The disks can be installed into another drive unit and read, And if they happen to be solid state drives it is even easier. That is if it is not highly encrypted of course. Encryption would make it much more difficult to piece together even if the disks can be read.

They probably would have been much better off to have kept a good degausser handy. lol


16 posted on 08/01/2017 5:40:23 AM PDT by Openurmind
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To: RoosterRedux

Out of curiosity would powerful magnets corrupt the data sufficiently to prevent recovery? My prior understanding was yes, but I’m not sure anymore.


17 posted on 08/01/2017 5:41:21 AM PDT by reed13k
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To: All

Its useful to remember-——all the DEMentocrats involved in this figured Hillary was a shoo-in and the games could go on.

None of them bothered to hide their involvement——offering platitudes like “Imran’s a nice guy.”


18 posted on 08/01/2017 5:42:00 AM PDT by Liz ( If ignorance is bliss, why is Maxine Waters so angry all the time?)
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To: CincyRichieRich
Where is Sessions?

He's busy recusing himself. Appearances, you know.

19 posted on 08/01/2017 5:43:04 AM PDT by ScottinVA ( Liberals, go find another country.)
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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