[ale] Hard Drive destruction/data distruction techniques revisited

[Greg Freemyer]

You missed "firmware" and my favorite "mission impossible self-destruction".

Google "ata security erase" for lots of info on firmware.  (iirc)
hdparm has experimental support, and in general any drive 15GB or
bigger should have the firmware built in.

For a research institute see http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/  (I suspect they
get all the grant money already.)

For a real product see http://www.deadondemand.com/products/digitalshredder/

And for a totally different approach, start using the mission
impossible self-destructing harddisk -
http://www.deadondemand.com/products/enhancedhdd/

Greg

On 8/22/07, tom <tfreeman at intel.digichem.net> wrote:
>
> Twice that I can remember in the past few years ALE has had fun with the
> concept of sanitizing the data held on a hard disk. Just for funsies, I
> tried to total up the concepts proposed. I've gotten the list partially
> togother, and thought I'd let others ensure completeness and correctness.
>
> I've indicated a guess as to the level of security, which others who know
> better should correct, and listed objections/drawbacks as they came to
> mind. Nit picking fodder...
>
> I've also guestimated at the level of satisfaction delivered, as in "This
> isn't actually work, I'm getting some pleasure out of this." Obviously
> highly subjective.
>
> In no concious order other than lumping related ideas together as a class.
>
> 1) Software
>         - Probably not TLA secure
>         - Probably not very satisfying
>         - Device should be reusable
>         - Minimal environmental impact (due to reuse)
>         - Not applicable to mechanically dead drives
>
> 2) "Will it Blend?" aka mechanical shredding
>         Put the HD through a mechanical shredder/blender and reduce to
>         shards
>         - Probably TLA secure
>         - Requires special equipment
>         - No reuse possible
>         - Probably not very satisfying, although capable of industrial
>                 scale
>
> 3) "Vampire Treatment" or giving a disk religion by making it holey
>         Drive spikes through HD, or drill multiple holes through HD
>         - Probably not TLA secure - will defeat almost everybody else
>         - No special equipment required
>         - No reuse
>         - ? satisfaction
>         - May not scale to high volumes well
>
> 4) Platter sanding
>         Disassemble HD and sand the magnetic oxide off the platter
>         - TLA secure
>         - No special equipment required
>         - No reuse
>         - I'd call this work, no satisfaction involved
>         - Let's not talk about scaling this to production levels
>
> 5) Target Practice
>         Take firearms (or any other kinetic energy impact device) and use
>         the HD for target practice. Then shoot the debree(sp?)
>         - Not guarenteed to be TLA secure, probably is tho
>         - Probably needs special equipment (mostly shooting range)
>         - No reuse
>         - definite satisfaction potiential
>         - limited scale, although the pleasure may scale with volume
>         - could have environmental impact as picking up the shards may
>                 become important
>
> 6) Chemical pickeling
>         Soak/dissolve the platter in any of HCl, HF, H2SO2
>         - TLA secure
>         - There will be difficulties with disposing of hazardous materials
>         - No reuse
>         - Needs some special equipment, but might scale up moderately
>         - Limited satisfaction value
>
> 6) High field magnetic treatment
>         - Should be TLA secure, pretty certain secure against anybodyelse
>         - reuse might be theoretically possible
>         - really need some special equipment
>         - highly variable satisfaction - hanging paperclips off a freshly
>                 magnatized hd may or may not provide enough amusement to
>                 all
>         - definitely isn't going to scale well.
>
> 7) High tech BBQ -  thermite
>         Expose the HD to a source of intense heat - say thermite or a
>         cutting torch - until the mass is fused
>         - TLA secure
>         - Requires special equipment
>         - No reuse
>         - Should give fair amount of satisfaction
>         - ?? environmental impact??
>         - Could scale moderately well
>         - With correct control, might give an art project - think Han Solo
>                 in carbonite. (There is a whole range of thermite
>                 reactions, the AL/rust one is the most popular due to
>                 being the hottest. There are "cooler" reactions avail)
>
> 9) Kinetic Energy aka Rail Gun ammunition
>         Use the HD as ammunition in a kinetic energy situation. ie. a rail
>         gun, a trebuche launch into a rock, rocket motor into steel
>         plate...
>         - ? TLA security not assured
>         - No reuse
>         - Special equipment
>         - Could be satisfying, could be work.
>         - ? probably would not scale well
>
>
> Have I missed any ideas at all?
>
> Somehow, I see the potiential for a technical paper - "Investigations into
> the Secure Deletion of Hard Disk Based Data"
>
>
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>


-- 
Greg Freemyer
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer

The Norcross Group
The Intersection of Evidence & Technology
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