Wiping

Thoroughly removing data from computer systems. Before getting rid of a computer, security experts suggest that owners wipe all traces of data from their machines by clearing caches and logfiles, removing entries from the directory, and overwriting erased areas on the hard disk at least seven times with different bytes to remove all magnetic traces.

Commercial wiping tools currently on the market include Active@ Kill Disk, a DOS utility that completely destroys all data on hard drives and floppy drives; CyberScrub, a utility offering secure deletion of files; E-Cycle, a utility specializing in data destruction, wiping, and the sanitizing of hard drives; File Shredder, a utility that wipes data by overwriting it; Paragon Disk Wipe, a utility for securely eliminating data from drives; and Wesco Development Group’s Automatic File Deletion System, a utility working with Windows 95 and Windows NT to automatically delete user-defined files. The open source version of a wiping tool is known as “eraser” and can be found at http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/.

See Also: Bytes; Caches; Logfiles.