So what do I do with that old hard drive??

To follow up last week's entry about information found on hard drives...

I used to work at a defense contractor in Clifton. I worked on a project that put radar jamming equipment and software on helicopters and other crafts. Some of the data we worked with was considered classified, so I know how that company handled it - they actually would burn all the materials, including opening up hard drives and melting the insides, burning floppy disks and USB drives, etc.

If you're not that paranoid, there is also a free software solution for home users, called DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke). This software program will allow you to boot up your computer, delete the contents of the drive securely, and be able to throw it out and trust that you'll be okay. According to Wikipedia, "DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis."

It can be used not only for hard drives, but also USB drives and floppy disks as well. It also supports Windows, Linux, and Macintosh, according to the documentation, though I've only used the Windows version.

If you're a little nervous about a program like this, don't worry - I've used it before, and it has been reviewed by companies such as CNN.

The program can be found for free at dban.org:
http://www.dban.org/

Unshredding...

One of the best ways to be secure, we're told, is to get a shredder. The problem with that is that if someone is motivated enough, they might be able to get information from the shreddings.

"Hey, I saw that in Bad Boys 2!" Me too - except the problem is, now it can be done by just about anyone, not just a socially inept hacker. This can be done through a software program available for download (though, of course, not for free).

On some level, very cool, but on another level, scary, especially if you have something you're trying to hide. Of course, neither of us has anything to hide, so it's all good, right?

Right?

http://www.unshredder.com/

Please note that at this point, this only seems to apply to the strip-cut shredders, which are typically the cheapest shredders. If you have a cross-cut shredder, you're safer.