Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks
We don't bite newbies here... much
 
PerlMonks  

Re: cryptonomicon challenge

by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor)
on Jul 30, 2002 at 18:52 UTC ( [id://186304]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to cryptonomicon challenge

I don't think writing random information 7 times is going to be enough. I think that's enough to prevent an analog read head from seeing 3 layers back, but the track-alignment issues can leave information laying around longer.

There are standards published by the government that uses specific patterns, not random numbers. Gibson uses patterns designed with knowledge of how the run-length encoding works in his tester product--similar knowledge might be useful here too, to make sure the =physical= bits are all written.

I would think the first pass would "wipe", not just "delete" the sensitive files.

So, here is an idea. Implement a wiper that takes a file name, opens it for read/write access, and overwrites it n times with the required patterns or random data (making sure it's really flushed, etc.).

Then, queue the list of files to process. Put the "sensitive" files first, but eventually list all files.

Slack space can be accomidated by making a slack file that fills up the rest of the space, before starting.

That way, one program does it all, and it can be reasonably portable and not need lower-level disk access.

Log In?
Username:
Password:

What's my password?
Create A New User
Domain Nodelet?
Node Status?
node history
Node Type: note [id://186304]
help
Chatterbox?
and the web crawler heard nothing...

How do I use this?Last hourOther CB clients
Other Users?
Others making s'mores by the fire in the courtyard of the Monastery: (6)
As of 2024-03-28 22:46 GMT
Sections?
Information?
Find Nodes?
Leftovers?
    Voting Booth?

    No recent polls found