Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
Lab_Wizard
New member
Since I have to work with lots of data I care about it being securely removed. Information recovered by certain agencies could possible be the only evidence against you, this is why you should treat it with great precious care of wiping. Most users store and remove information the old fashion way, here is why I've decided to create this tutorial.
Recycle Bin
Did you know? When you delete sensitive files from a disk on your computer, the operating system (Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/XP ) does not erase contents of these files from the disk - it only deletes 'references' on these files from filesystem tables. Contents of the deleted file (or file's body) continue to be stored on the disk and can be easily recovered using any disk tool utility.
In fact, even if you format your hard drive it wouldn't be a problem to recover the data that you've deleted. Truth is you have to use special destruction measures that will overwrite the file(s) you're deleting several time using set and random data.
Wiping is a term used to describe a process of shredding contents of a file or disk space. It is impossible to restore any data that has been properly wiped.
BC Wipe 3
Introducing the BCWipe - a powerful set of utilities which allows to use US DoD 5200.28-STD standard and Peter Gutmann wiping scheme (read about Peter Gutmann wiping scheme in the Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid State Memory article http://www.usenix.org/publications/library...papers/gutmann/ ), as well as create and use you own customized wiping scheme to shred sensitive information from storage devices installed on your computer.
Using BCWipe is quite simple. After installation of the BCWipe utility you will find Wipe Free Space and Delete With Wiping commands in the context menus of the Windows Explorer program. For example, if you wish to delete and wipe group of files, you should select them, press right mouse button and run the Delete With Wiping command from the appeared context menu.
I personally strongly suggest using Peter Gutmann scheme when wiping real sensitive information. This guarantees no one will ever be able to recover it.
You should also take into account a problem of so-called Windows Swap File and Hibernation File. Swap File is the system file that supports virtual memory, and when you open some document, the Swap file may be used by the operating system to store a part of the document on a hard disk. The BCWipe system includes an option to wipe Swap File, as well as a tool to encrypt contents of Swap File transparently for the operating system.
Hibernation File supports transition of computer to the hibernation state. At that time system copies all the data stored in RAM memory, including opened sensitive documents, to the Hibernation File. To avoid the security leak you may configure BCWipe to wipe the Hibernation File regulary.
Wipe Free Space using BC Wipe
When you delete sensitive files using a standard Windows ‘Delete’ command, the operating system does not shred contents of the documents from hard drive, it just marks disk space, earlier occupied by the files, as ‘free’. To completely remove all the traces of the earlier deleted files, use the Wipe free space command to wipe free space on the disk, where these files were stored.
To wipe free space on a disk, run Wipe free space command from ‘My Computer’ window using a pop-up menu. Remember to right-click on the drive item you want to wipe: this will bring up the menu that includes Wipe Free Space.
BCWipe allows using US DoD 5200.28-STD standard or Peter Gutmann’s wiping scheme. US DoD standard is a seven-pass wiping, Peter Gutmann scheme is 35-passes wiping. Every pass in these schemes uses a definite byte pattern, and if you wish, you can get detailed description of the patterns by pressing the Edit/View scheme button. As well press the button if you want to create and use your own wiping scheme with customized byte patterns and number of passes.
NOTE: Before running the Wipe free space command on the disk,close all applications. There are at least two reasons to do this:
some programs create temporary files while they are running: those temporary files will not be wiped when you run the command.
Windows swap files (or page-file) may store sensitive information that is used by currently loaded applications. This part of swap file will not be wiped.
It also is important to Defragment your disk drive. You may easily find the application called Disk Defragmenter in Accessories -> System Tools. By defragmenting your drive, you not only improve the speed of the OS but bury the non-recoverable shredded and wiped data.
BCWipe program can be downloaded directly from developers of BestCrypt http://www.jetico.com/download.htm or by following direct d/l link http://www.jetico.com/bcwipe3.exe
Recycle Bin
Did you know? When you delete sensitive files from a disk on your computer, the operating system (Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/XP ) does not erase contents of these files from the disk - it only deletes 'references' on these files from filesystem tables. Contents of the deleted file (or file's body) continue to be stored on the disk and can be easily recovered using any disk tool utility.
In fact, even if you format your hard drive it wouldn't be a problem to recover the data that you've deleted. Truth is you have to use special destruction measures that will overwrite the file(s) you're deleting several time using set and random data.
Wiping is a term used to describe a process of shredding contents of a file or disk space. It is impossible to restore any data that has been properly wiped.
BC Wipe 3
Introducing the BCWipe - a powerful set of utilities which allows to use US DoD 5200.28-STD standard and Peter Gutmann wiping scheme (read about Peter Gutmann wiping scheme in the Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid State Memory article http://www.usenix.org/publications/library...papers/gutmann/ ), as well as create and use you own customized wiping scheme to shred sensitive information from storage devices installed on your computer.
Using BCWipe is quite simple. After installation of the BCWipe utility you will find Wipe Free Space and Delete With Wiping commands in the context menus of the Windows Explorer program. For example, if you wish to delete and wipe group of files, you should select them, press right mouse button and run the Delete With Wiping command from the appeared context menu.
I personally strongly suggest using Peter Gutmann scheme when wiping real sensitive information. This guarantees no one will ever be able to recover it.
You should also take into account a problem of so-called Windows Swap File and Hibernation File. Swap File is the system file that supports virtual memory, and when you open some document, the Swap file may be used by the operating system to store a part of the document on a hard disk. The BCWipe system includes an option to wipe Swap File, as well as a tool to encrypt contents of Swap File transparently for the operating system.
Hibernation File supports transition of computer to the hibernation state. At that time system copies all the data stored in RAM memory, including opened sensitive documents, to the Hibernation File. To avoid the security leak you may configure BCWipe to wipe the Hibernation File regulary.
Wipe Free Space using BC Wipe
When you delete sensitive files using a standard Windows ‘Delete’ command, the operating system does not shred contents of the documents from hard drive, it just marks disk space, earlier occupied by the files, as ‘free’. To completely remove all the traces of the earlier deleted files, use the Wipe free space command to wipe free space on the disk, where these files were stored.
To wipe free space on a disk, run Wipe free space command from ‘My Computer’ window using a pop-up menu. Remember to right-click on the drive item you want to wipe: this will bring up the menu that includes Wipe Free Space.
BCWipe allows using US DoD 5200.28-STD standard or Peter Gutmann’s wiping scheme. US DoD standard is a seven-pass wiping, Peter Gutmann scheme is 35-passes wiping. Every pass in these schemes uses a definite byte pattern, and if you wish, you can get detailed description of the patterns by pressing the Edit/View scheme button. As well press the button if you want to create and use your own wiping scheme with customized byte patterns and number of passes.
NOTE: Before running the Wipe free space command on the disk,close all applications. There are at least two reasons to do this:
some programs create temporary files while they are running: those temporary files will not be wiped when you run the command.
Windows swap files (or page-file) may store sensitive information that is used by currently loaded applications. This part of swap file will not be wiped.
It also is important to Defragment your disk drive. You may easily find the application called Disk Defragmenter in Accessories -> System Tools. By defragmenting your drive, you not only improve the speed of the OS but bury the non-recoverable shredded and wiped data.
BCWipe program can be downloaded directly from developers of BestCrypt http://www.jetico.com/download.htm or by following direct d/l link http://www.jetico.com/bcwipe3.exe
