full-disclosure - *nix data wipe tools

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Message-ID: <200412150259.44075.thomas.greene@theregister.co.uk>
From: thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk (Thomas C. Greene)
Subject: *nix data wipe tools

I've posted the final versions of a few simple, free shell scripts that i've 
been working on to make data hygiene more convenient on *nix systems. Thanks 
to list members who helped test them and contributed improvements.

Download them at  http://basicsec.org/tools.html  The file is called 
LinuxWipeTools.tar.gz

The purpose here is to simplify regular maintenance. These tools are not 
intended as substitutes for the wipe and shred utilities, which should always 
be used on sensitive individual files. What i have here are backup tools that 
will easily and securely wipe large areas of the disk that might contain data 
traces you've neglected, or failed to eliminate properly.

The scripts are meant to clean large disk areas safely and conveniently while 
you work with your system. They are intended for basic, regular maintenance: 
i.e., to eliminate duplicate data traces in obscure areas of the disk, and 
the remnants of files that have merely been deleted. There is nothing here 
that you couldn't do from the command line: the idea is to make it convenient 
so that you *will* do it. Often.

The WipeSwap script will automatically detect your swap device, stop it, wipe 
it securely, and re-create it. This usually takes only 20-30 minutes. The 
swap partition is a great accumulator of unforseen and/or forgotten data, and 
should be wiped regularly. This makes it easy and safe.

The WipeFree scripts will securely wipe un-allocated disk space, where the 
remnants of deleted files may remain. Again, this merely simplifies the 
process.

Please see the README file for caveats and a more detailed explanation.

Thanks to the courage of numerous volunteers, i can say that the scripts 
appear to work safely and effectively on a variety of Unix, BSD and Linux 
systems.

Many thanks to Conrad Wood and David C. Niemi for improvements they 
contributed, and to Jim Knopf for an important fix and several excellent 
suggestions.

chrz, 
t.

============== 
Thomas C. Greene 
Associate Editor 
The Register 
http://theregister.co.uk 
http://basicsec.org