TR: Best way to wipe data with AIX ?

From: Hirter Marcel (Marcel.Hirter_at_NE.CH)
Date: 09/15/05

  • Next message: Michael Schmolders: "Re: Best way to wipe data with AIX ?" 
    Date:         Thu, 15 Sep 2005 11:42:10 +0200
To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU

    Hi,
    I would use diag certify media !!!

    -----Message d'origine-----
    De : Roger Deschner [mailto:rogerd@UIC.EDU]
    Envoyé : mercredi 14 septembre 2005 09:27
    Objet : Re: Best way to wipe data with AIX ?

    I've been following this, hoping for a good idea. I'm facing the same
    problem, and our auditors say none of that is acceptable. Allocating a
    big filesystem and running dd to write
    "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" 10 zillion times on it will not
    do. Formatting with diag -> format is inadequate. Not even doing it many
    times. They want me to REALLY wipe the data out, using an Officially(tm)
    Certified(tm) Government Standard Compliant Disk-Wipe(tm) program,
    witnessed by two different people, each of whom must sign a printed log
    of the session. Only then will the auditors permit us to return a disk
    which has ever contained either personal or University-Owned data to any
    vendor.

    The only alternative they give us is to physically destroy the drives,
    and they give us alternatives for that ranging from the bizarre to the
    almost fun. Think David Letterman tricks with hydraulic punch presses.
    We could also degauss the drives, but a magnetic field that would be
    strong enough to satisfy their data destruction requirements, would also
    destroy the drive electronics, making them worthless to the vendor we
    will be sending them back to.

    Although they have basically invalidated every warranty and service
    contract on disk subsystems we have, there is no arguing with auditors.
    It's the law in Illinois, and we're a state agency. You do what they
    say, even though it is extremely time consuming. We are evaluating if,
    considering the personnel cost of wiping, it is more cost advantageous
    to simply destroy the drives.

    Disk-wipe programs exist in the Windows environment. (e.g. Stellar Wipe,
    Active@ Eraser) One Unix program I've found is the free Gnu-licensed
    wipe program, at http://wipe.sourceforge.net. Be sure to read the
    detailed academic paper that explains why all those other methods, from
    writing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" until the disk is full, to
    reformatting, are all inadequate, at
    http://wipe.sourceforge.net/secure_del.html

    However, even the government says that the only sure way to destroy data
    on magnetic media is to physically destroy the media.

    Roger Deschner University of Illinois at Chicago rogerd@uic.edu

    On Wed, 14 Sep 2005, Jim McD wrote:

    >Hi
    >
    >Always overwrite the entire disk, best do it several times.
    >
    >Using the deleting and formatting are just small alterations to the disk.
    >Data is still left on the disk and still accessible using non traditional
    >methods
    >
    >Regards Jim
    >

  • Next message: Michael Schmolders: "Re: Best way to wipe data with AIX ?"

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