[clug] Secure Erase of disks/drives

[Alex Satrapa]

On 08/05/2007, at 15:31 , Tomasz Ciolek wrote:

> Actually microscopy techniquesr cost more than 10K per disk to try.  
> I am
> reliably informed the cost is on the order of 100K to 1M... and  
> takes MONTHS of
> work...

You are nowhere near paranoid enough.

The cost is in the order of $100K for someone in the Western world  
using commercially produced equipment, doing the work on a contract  
basis. Thus in the Western world, the return on scanning a hard drive  
would have to exceed $100K worth of financial benefit or the  
overthrow of a Government.

For someone in (insert industrialising-country-of-choice here), the  
return on investment might only have to cover the food they have to  
eat while operating the borrowed or stolen equipment, along with  
enough to buy the neighbour's farm.

When worrying about the risk of exposure of data, you have to think  
who could benefit the most from that data being exposed. A credit  
card number worth $5000 in Australia would perhaps buy you a year's  
supply of petrol, or a couple of nice black suits and matching ties,  
or a stolen gun. That same number in (for example) China might be  
enough to acquire a small real estate empire and settle into a life  
of financial stability.

Alex