Re: Interesting One

["Chet Uber" <chet.uber () cox net>]

Fact: You cannot read the drive if it is overwritten without being able to
manipulate the path of the drive head. I do not mean deleting a file in DOS,
I mean overwriting the drive with dd for example. What they are talking
about is that the edges of the tracks have data still, and you can
disassemble the drive and use force microscopy to read what is left. This is
a well known issue.

The overwritten by X times is irrelevant if you are trying to recover using
software. You cannot recover these drives.

http://www.c3i.osd.mil/org/cio/doc/computerdisposal.doc.


Chet Uber





----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg van der Gaast" <greg.van.der.gaast () ordina nl>
To: <security-basics () securityfocus com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 4:53 AM
Subject: RE: Interesting One


> Last I heard from some DoD/NIPC people (and this was well over a year
> ago) is that they were able to successfully retrieve at least partial
> information off a disk that had been overwritten 153 times. Assume that
> (at least government) forensic techniques have improved since.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg van der Gaast
> Ordina Public SDS West
> Security Services
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Carol Stone [mailto:carol () carolstone com]
> Verzonden: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 9:58 PM
> Aan: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Onderwerp: Re: Interesting One
>
> I don't know much about this, but yesterday I read in one of the later
> chapters of Bruce Schneier's book, "Secrets and Lies," (link to amazon
> follows) that over-writing data on a disk does *not* completely
> obliterate it, it just makes it a lot more difficult to recover with
> each over-write. I believe he said just how many re-writes were still
> recoverable was a secret one of our governmental organizations wasn't
> about to give up.  I'll look at my book later when I have it in my
> hands and see if I can't find part and post a pointer to *his*
> reference.
>
> -carol
>
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
> /0471253111/qid=1035924654/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_3/104-4454644-5987143?
> v=glance&n=507846
>
> > Greetings Folks,
> >
> > I had an interesting conversation today with someone from FAST
> > (Federation
> > Against Software Theft) They pretend not to be a snitch wing of the
> BSA.
> > Anyway, to get to the point, the guy that came to see me said that
> their
> > forensics guys could read data off a hard drive that had been written
> > over
> > up to thirty times. I find this very hard to believe and told him I
> > thought
> > he was mistaken but the guy was adamant that it could be done. My
> > question
> > is, does anyone have any views on this, or, can anyone point me to a
> > source
> > of information where I can get the facts on exactly how much data can
> be
> > retrieved off a hard drive and under what conditions etc etc.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Dave Adams
> >
> >
> >
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