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 computer security question for the tech minded
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| Author | Topic: computer security question for the tech minded |
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maximus Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 27) |
posted June 26, 2000 08:45 PM
  
We all know when we erase e-mail it is still actually somewhere on your hard drive. It can be retrieved by people with the proper software(gov agents??) Programs like pgp are supposed to erase all this info (fragments)left on the hard drive. When I try to run pgp it takes about 10 seconds and is supposedly done. I cant see it blocking out all the hard drive info in such a short time. Am I not using it right? Im confused?? How do I use this properly to erase all the leftover info?? Thx IP: Logged |
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oubeta Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 57) |
posted June 26, 2000 08:50 PM
I've heard they have a way to beat that program now. There is another out, can't remember the name..Formatting your drive is the best bet, but a pain in the ass. I also think the emails that are sent to you also sit on your server for a while to..I might be wrong though.. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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ajc1977 Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 202) |
posted June 26, 2000 08:57 PM
This is something I do know about. If you delete the mesage from your outbox and from the trash in your email program, it should be gone - period. But...who has a copy of it? If it's written in Outlook, it's basically got your name on it - or the name it was registered to, wherever a copy may be. Only Microsoft can check for this though-It's supposedly for copyright protection purposes. Then you've got the server it was sent on and the server it was received to worry about. That's the server owner's discretion as to when they get rid of it. In short, BE VERY FUCKING CAREFUL! IP: Logged |
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Parabellum Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 226) |
posted June 26, 2000 08:57 PM
The only way to get deleted information of your hdd is to write the the block it was stored in. What PGP does is write 0's to that area, thus completely destroying whatever information your have deleted. It wipes the free space. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Latimer Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 322) |
posted June 26, 2000 09:36 PM
Yeah Parabellum is on the money. The only way is to write over the data. Data can even be recovered after you format. IP: Logged |
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ironmaster Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 215) |
posted June 26, 2000 09:42 PM
Parabellum is correct on this, but you have to have pgp do a total freespace disk wipe, maybe several passes to be sure. This takes hours, not seconds. IP: Logged |
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maximus Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 27) |
posted June 26, 2000 09:56 PM
thx for the replies. How in the world do I do a total freespace wipe on pgp???? I have the program its on but now ....Im feeling lost. IP: Logged |
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Bossman Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 317) |
posted June 26, 2000 09:57 PM
ironmaster is right. MicroSoft makes a program that writes over old data. Formatting won't get rid of the old data. When you save info it is saved as code in ones and zeros. When you delete it, you can't see it anymore but the old ones and zeros are still there until you use up all of the availabe disk space, then it will come back and save over the old. If you get one of these programs, I think to be 100% safe you need to run it 7 times, or the old data can be reassembled. I'm not an expert in this, but the company I work for has a fraud investigation and forensic accounting group, so this is what some of the guys told me. --------- Bossman IP: Logged |
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Green Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 47) |
posted June 26, 2000 09:58 PM
If you're using email at work or off a local server that's a bad idea. Even high speed internet from home is a bad idea to send email. All those above will link an IP address to every email you send that can EASILY be traced back to you. The best option is to set up a free internet acct. under a false name and set up a new one every few weeks. I've never heard of the feds doing this. It seems like they'd need a court order since it's technically entering your house. You also can use a rewebber to change your IP again to post if you're really paranoid. I really don't think the feds have THAT much time on their hands. Later, Green IP: Logged |
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Steriod_Virgin Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 265) |
posted June 26, 2000 10:06 PM
Bro's, Depending on who wants to read your hard drive, there are private agencies that can read a hard drive after it has been formatted and re-written on several times. If you really want something gone, or you have something really bad on the pc, take a sledge hammer and smash the drive into a million pieces, making sure to turn the platters into dust.. Im not kidding IP: Logged |
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ajc1977 Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 202) |
posted June 26, 2000 10:33 PM
Data recovery costs thousands of dollars and has no guarantee to be completely acurate. Unless you are moving huge amounts of stuff, they probably wouldn't waste their time & money. Most hard drive manufacturers have programs that will write zeroes to the HDD that you can download for free. Really though, unless you think you're worthy of the FBI/DEA spending some money on you, just format the drive and get over it. IP: Logged |
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NEWMAXX Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 207) |
posted June 26, 2000 10:43 PM
Para is correct for the email piece and the HDD. It is going to sit there in some fashon until you do a low level format...Are you trying to get rid of the entire drive?--Put a drill hole in it.. But, what is your issue? The most anon way is to set up a Hushmail account or something like that and refer to yet another Hotmail account or something during the setup under an different name.
Bottom line ..do not worrry about it unless you are actuall doing anything illegal...and if it is a hand full of AS you are worried abou,t then the little risk there is, it does exist..accept it ------------------ IP: Logged |
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joker Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 218) |
posted June 26, 2000 11:00 PM
Use hushmail.com and set your browser to NOT save encrypted files to disk.... IP: Logged |
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Eramthgin Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 467) |
posted June 27, 2000 12:44 AM
I'm an MCSE here is the truth...fuck the gov wienies they can't find shit. Most email is not on your hard drive. If you use your web browser it is in a temp file. Delete all tmp files. Have you browser delete all internet files that are cached. Then run a defrag program on the hard drive. All of the clusters will be written over and the email is gone. ------------------ If you enjoy it today you can always do it again tomorrow. IP: Logged |
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Eramthgin Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 467) |
posted June 27, 2000 12:46 AM
One other thing when you delete the email there is a copy of it on the host server. Many commercial sites are required to keep tape backup of all the emails. That includes deleted mail. Using an encrypted service will help or use a third party encryption progam where only you and the other party know the keys. ------------------ If you enjoy it today you can always do it again tomorrow. IP: Logged |
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redE2GROW Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 57) |
posted June 27, 2000 10:36 AM
Where are you guys getting this bogus info that "you can still retrieve data after formatting the hard drive that it is on"? I am a computer technician and this is TOTAL BULLSHIT! Once a drive is formatted that is it, end of story, ALL DATA IS LOST FOREVER! The hard drive is now in the same state that it was in before you bought it at the store. There are absolutely NO TRACES OF ANY OF YOUR DATA on the drive. and about how to use PGP, Maximus make sure that you are wiping the c:\ drive and not the a:\ drive(floppy drive). PGP automatically defaults to the floppy drive. peace ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Fish Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 482) |
posted June 27, 2000 10:56 AM
After a disk has been formatted you can still recover data. After you write over it you can not. I can do this, so I am sure someone in the government can as well. If you want more than my word on this do a search. Search for Data recovery. Then select one of the companies you find, I work for one that does this, and call them. Tell them a employee got fired and formatted his harddrive before leaving. Tell them there are very important legal docs on there and you must have them back. They will tell you they can mostlikely get this data back. Try this computer tech. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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foreverblast Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 41) |
posted June 27, 2000 11:31 AM
dayum you guys are making having in possession some roids the same crime as sending a bomb to the white house, lol.. what gives? aint' no body gonna spend time/money recovering your deleted shit just cuz you trying to buy some roids through the net. IP: Logged |
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ajc1977 Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 202) |
posted June 27, 2000 03:32 PM
Ready2Grow - That's almost true. If you do format that's fine but you do have to wipe out the MBR (master boot record). A debug will work for that. I've used a program that puts itself in the MBR and you can get the contents of the drive back even after you do a Format - The only way to be sure is to debug. Once again, those of you that just tinker, I wouldn't even worry about anything past deleting all the appropriate files, because data recovery is expensive and not always reliable. So - for everyone else...Here's all you do. 1. Fdisk to remove the partition Or...Just download a program that does a low level format (writes zeroes to the HDD) and your done. I won't get into how to do all of this...but you're all on the internet, so go find out. Later IP: Logged |
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Seitz Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 51) |
posted June 27, 2000 10:02 PM
more good info...bump IP: Logged |
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redE2GROW Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 57) |
posted June 28, 2000 12:19 AM
My apologies Fish, ajc1977, and everybody else. I have been taught that once a drive is formatted, all data is gone. Evidently that statement was true then, but now is no longer correct. In any case, it is true that a low-level format should be sufficient for the common user, because, as said before, data recovery is very unreliable and expensive. Once again sorry for the misinformation. "Guess you do learn something new everyday" :-0 peace ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Latimer Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 322) |
posted June 28, 2000 10:14 AM
Anyone ever wonder if the Government is secretly running HUSHMAIL? There's something to think about. IP: Logged |
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Fish Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 482) |
posted June 28, 2000 10:34 AM
Wow, wouldn't that be terrible. Next week they do a mass bust. Then we could all meet. Headlines read "Big Guys Go To Jail"   ------------------ IP: Logged |
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SteveUK Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 2) |
posted July 05, 2000 08:35 AM
Hi guys, I am from the UK, so quite out numbered on this board. Anyway guy's/bro something I think you all should know. Your email is NOT on your computer it is held on your ISP Server (computer) i.e AOL, MSN, YAHOO etc.... In regards to deleting files on your hard disk drive you do this. If using windows 95, 98 delete the file(s) this erases the header on track 0 (Not the file) it is still physically on your hard disk drive then defragment with the option to zero format the free space on the hard disk drive this re-arranges the sectors on the hard-drive and re-writes the header. On NT, 2000, Millenium versions of windows disk-fragmentor program not provided need a program like disk-keeper or something from shareware (winfiles.com). Anyway bye for now back to Anabolex. Cya later. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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SteveUK Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 2) |
posted July 05, 2000 08:44 AM
Hi again, Changed my username. Anyway a couple of points from above. Formatting the hard disk drive re-writes the MBR as I believe has been stated above. However the best way to destroy data is to ZERO format, military do this process 7 times, there is a utility available I believe it is shareware that does this. Oh by the way Low level format does not put 0's to every sector. Low level format is used to overide your installed O/S system ie NT 4. As NT does not have does, does it! I believe Maxtor disks have a low level formatter called Maxblast formats in about 5 secs. Trust me I'm correct, Director of computer consultancy. IP: Logged |
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Caesar Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 21) |
posted July 05, 2000 09:33 AM
Anything that has EVER been on your hard drive can be retrieved. It is very costly and time consuming, and there are only a few places in the world that can do it - but it is very possible. Unless you killed someone, I doubt they'd be paying the cash to have it done. PGP is an encryption program - it doesn't delete things. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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