Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: 10thplanetjj on June 28, 2012, 02:30 pm
-
hey guys i need your help, i need my comp clean and im no i.t genius.. im thinking of just reformatting it but will that still leave traces of SR activity or even my username on here? also would windows 7 and all essential programs still be on it? what should i do.. i would go into more personal details and recent events but probably best not to this week. Thanks guys, really appreciate any advice. Also the house isn't clean ive got a draw full off most psychedelics available but im comfortable in risking that being for personal use.
-
Formatting will not do enough, you need to zero out the hard drive. Use a program like http://killdisk.com/ or something similar.
-
DBAN should be your go to tool.
http://www.dban.org/
from the site
Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk designed for consumer use. It securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis. DBAN is a free software product that can be used at home or in a business at zero cost. The only official place to obtain DBAN is by download at this web site. We do not sell DBAN media.
bold emphasis was added by me
-
DBAN should be your go to tool.
http://www.dban.org/
from the site
Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk designed for consumer use. It securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis. DBAN is a free software product that can be used at home or in a business at zero cost. The only official place to obtain DBAN is by download at this web site. We do not sell DBAN media.
bold emphasis was added by me
Thanks for the Heads Up UKMJ
I will have to add that one to my list of must have programs.
-
Just a quick thanks to you guys, bless :)...doing it tomorrow, saving vids and pics..assume this is okay. Thank you :)
-
I'd use Truecrypt (I use it myself) to encrypt the whole partition, that way you don't need to delete anything (you wouldn't need to delete anything related to SR if you're using Tor browser. The existance of the Tor browser itself is meaningless to anyone).
For plausible deniability, use Truecrypt to create a hidden volume. Whilst law enforcement in some countries might punish you for refusing to give a password for your system, they can't punish you for a hidden volume since they can't ever prove it exists.
---
Personally I haven't bothered with the hidden volume. I just encrypted my drives. If ever questioned I'll just claim the password is super complex, and the stress of being arrested plus the time passed has caused me to forget it, so tough noogies.
edit:
Dban sounds neat. But it's not needed if you've used Truecrypt. Infact I'd consider Truecrypt safer, because some people claim that you need to format a drive X times to completely erase everything (my apologies if Dban overwrites the harddrive with several passes, I am not familiar with the program).
-
Reformatting doesn't permanently delete all data and is still recoverable even after multiple reformats. Like stated above, Dban is a good option to destroy all data on the HDD. Dban uses 3 passes to permanently delete all data from the drive. There is no way to recover any of it, maybe bits (and I mean bits) of info but those bits (1's and 0's) would be scrambled and overwritten to the extent that it is impossible to gather any sort of valuable information from it. it would look like a fresh hard drive. Use Dban to clean your drive and then use truecrypt to encrypt it for good security if your drive happened to be confiscated before you can use Dban.
-
Infact I'd consider Truecrypt safer, because some people claim that you need to format a drive X times to completely erase everything (my apologies if Dban overwrites the harddrive with several passes, I am not familiar with the program).
the prevailing view in computer forensics circles is that one pass with zeroes will result in complete destruction of everything except residual data left on track edges (which no number of passes will clear unless you use the "secure erase" ata command) or physically destroy the drive
This is true, might as well do 3 passes since it takes a long time to begin with. But, the residual data that is left over is just that: residual data. It has no incriminating value and could not possibly be used as evidence. Of course, the only way to be 100% safe is to physically destroy the hard drive and buy a new one. In a pinch, a very powerful magnet might do the trick but would not be as safe as a hammer or 600+ degree heat.
-
DBAN! Very easy to use software. Go to the website, burn the .ISO image to a cd, and then boot from CD.
Configure it to overwrite the entire disk with just 1 pass, this will suffice. Then reinstall the operating system.
-
This is true, might as well do 3 passes since it takes a long time to begin with.
using the hardware erase command is much much faster than any software program because the limiting factor is the speed of the hard drive and not the clock rate of the cpu or anything else
As with most modern computers, the mechanical drive is almost always the cause of bottlenecking the cpu, so you are correct. That is why SSD's are becoming more popular. Using the command that is built in to most ATA and all newer drives is faster, depending on the level of security you want. Either choice would be good for wiping data, with the winner going to hardware level deletion only because it's slightly faster.
-
do you guys know something that is effective as DBAN for macs?
-
do you guys know something that is effective as DBAN for macs?
DBAN will work with any computer since you boot from the burned disc and doesn't require any OS other than the BIOS of course.
-
do you guys know something that is effective as DBAN for macs?
DBAN will work with any computer since you boot from the burned disc and doesn't require any OS other than the BIOS of course.
Do you know if the steps are the same with mac as with windows??
"DBAN! Very easy to use software. Go to the website, burn the .ISO image to a cd, and then boot from CD.
Configure it to overwrite the entire disk with just 1 pass, this will suffice. Then reinstall the operating system."
will this work?
-
do you guys know something that is effective as DBAN for macs?
DBAN will work with any computer since you boot from the burned disc and doesn't require any OS other than the BIOS of course.
Do you know if the steps are the same with mac as with windows??
"DBAN! Very easy to use software. Go to the website, burn the .ISO image to a cd, and then boot from CD.
Configure it to overwrite the entire disk with just 1 pass, this will suffice. Then reinstall the operating system."
will this work?
Yessir, Mac and Windows have nothing to do with running dban. Simply burn the .iso to a disc and boot from that disc. Here are the steps:
1. Download and burn dban to disc.
2. Place disc in drive and restart computer.
3. When the BIOS screen flashes (the first screen that comes up before loading your OS) go into boot options/menu. (on my computer its F12 but it might be different with different BIOS's)
4. Select the disc drive that you put the disc into.
5. After a few seconds a blue screen will come up. This is the Dban software.
6. Type in 'autonuke' and press enter. (this will do 3 passes, not just 1)
That's it! After 5-8+ hours depending on the size of your HDD it will be completely erased and nothing can be retrieved from the HDD. Be sure to backup any files you want to save and have an OS disc to install after dban erases your hard drive. Dban will erase everything including all operating systems you have on the hard drive.
-
Thankyou!!!! :)
if i could give karma i would.. +1
-
Do you know if the steps are the same with mac as with windows??
Yes.
Normally when you use a computer, the operating system (Mac/Linux/Windows) tells the computer what to do.
However, when you boot from the DBAN CD, you don't use the operating system. The CD is telling the computer what to do, not the OS. This is logical, because you're about to completely wipe all data on the hard drive, including the operating system.
extra pro-tip: when DBAN is started, don't type autonuke. As stated above, that command will completely overwrite everything with 3 passes of data. However, that is more than necessary, 1 pass of data is sufficient.
3 passes will take a lot of time (we're talking hours here) and is just a waste of electricity and wear on the hardware. After one pass of data, it already is extremely hard to recover any data. Very advanced forensic equipment is necessary for that, and nobody is gonna spend that kind of time/money/effort (unless you're the leader of some terrorist network). Also, if you continue to use your hard disk after wiping, the bits will get overwritten again, making it even harder to recover anything.
When entering DBAN, press enter. This will take you to advanced mode, a self explanatory interface where you can configure DBAN to overwrite the disk with 1 pass of random data. (I believe there are also youtube tutorials out on the subject).
-
Yes.
1 pass would probably be sufficient but I didn't want to write the extra steps involved with configuring dban to do that.
-
Yes.
1 pass would probably be sufficient but I didn't want to write the extra steps involved with configuring dban to do that.
Yeah I can imagine that.
I believe there is a command for a quick wipe. I believe that it's "quick". So instead of autonuke, just type "quick" and it should do 1 pass.
-
Wouldn't filling your empty space with 1's and 0's get rid of all the traces of deleted files?
-
Rather than just wiping the disk i mean.
-
Yes.
1 pass would probably be sufficient but I didn't want to write the extra steps involved with configuring dban to do that.
Yeah I can imagine that.
I believe there is a command for a quick wipe. I believe that it's "quick". So instead of autonuke, just type "quick" and it should do 1 pass.
Cool, I didn't know that, thanks!
-
Wouldn't filling your empty space with 1's and 0's get rid of all the traces of deleted files?
Rather than just wiping the disk i mean.
Yeah that's what wiping loosely means and dban does that except it replaces your entire disc with 1's and 0's and not just the empty space.
-
i downloaded this technicians toolkit from demoniod and its the fuckin shit! came with cc cleaner, fill disk, cyber shredder and a bunch of other useful stuff.
-
all those programs are bullshit and provide the user with a sense of security that they don't really provide
please read http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MSP.2009.89 to understand why hardware level erase commands are superior in every way
it's far less work for yourself too, a one-pass software overwrite may take hours to complete, but a hardware erase takes less than a second!
Dban isn't bullshit and does wipe the HDD clean, but it does take longer than hardware level commands. The command line is less intuitive because many newbies don't even know what MS-DOS or terminal-like programs are let alone know how to type in commands. That is the reason I recommended dban to the OP. However, if the OP is at least somewhat confident in their computer knowledge and can type commands into MS-DOS, then hardware level deletion would be the ideal way to do this.
-
how many passes would one want to do to be "safe" from anyone seeing any SR history?
-
Wouldn't filling your empty space with 1's and 0's get rid of all the traces of deleted files?
Rather than just wiping the disk i mean.
Yes. However there is more risk involved. If you wipe the entire disk, you can be sure every nook and cranny is wiped. If you do a free space wipe, you have to trust that the software is thorough. Also, if you accidentally forgot to delete a file, then that disk space is not going to be wiped.
how many passes would one want to do to be "safe" from anyone seeing any SR history?
Well the keyword here is "anyone".
If you wipe with 1 pass, all data will be destroyed. You won't be able to get it back, no matter what software you use. It will be impossible to recover the original content. For you, for the computer repair shop, for the police, for the computer factory, everybody.
With one exception. There are special laboratory techniques that can be used to see what data was on the disk before it was overwritten. This requires the device to be taken apart and investigated very carefully by computer forensics using specialized equipment. I presume this is a very time consuming and expensive process. If you think somebody is going to use that on your disk, as a Silk Road buyer (or vendor for that matter) then you are in fantasy land.
However, if you want to eliminate that possibility, you can overwrite your disk several times with random data. There are several patterns and algorithms out there. The US department of defense uses 3 passes. This is generally accepted as absolutely safe. The CIA uses 7 passes. A certain computer scientist, Peter Gutmann proposed a method of 35 passes, and it is included as an option on many software (including DBAN and CCleaner). However this takes very long (for a regular 1TB disk, something like a week), and it is generally considered nothing more than a good way to toast your hard disk. Even Gutmann himself admitted it is overkill.
I use 1 pass for basically everything, and 3 passes if I really want something gone. I consider everything more than 3 passes useless and excessive wear on my hardware.
-
I think its worth noting that as much as I love DBAN, it does have a potential weakness. I could be wrong here but as far as I know it does not write over bad sectors on the disk, which could contain incriminating evidence if it went bad after data was written to it (that last bit is speculation).
I have no idea if the same is true of KillDisk but that problem is avoided with hardware erasure.
-
thanks man , lots of useful info here!
-
all those programs are bullshit and provide the user with a sense of security that they don't really provide
please read http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MSP.2009.89 to understand why hardware level erase commands are superior in every way
it's far less work for yourself too, a one-pass software overwrite may take hours to complete, but a hardware erase takes less than a second!
However, if the OP is at least somewhat confident in their computer knowledge and can type commands into MS-DOS, then hardware level deletion would be the ideal way to do this.
This 'hardware level deletion' is new to me. Can anybody explain me how it works?