If you want a USB thumb drive wiped, try asking a panther for help

TykeClone

Burgermeister!
Oct 18, 2006
25,799
2,154
113
Thought this was kind of funny

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/06/deleting_data_from_flash_drives/

Art students – or at least those at the University of Northern Iowa – are the most likely to know how to permanently delete data from USB drives, while business or humanities students don't even try.

That's one amusing conclusion of a serious study, led by the US university's Sarah Diesburg, into how people treat the security of their flash stick data.
We've known for years that folks in general just don't know how to securely delete data from USB drives, and this fresh research confirmed it: too many people, Diesburg found, think dragging a file into the trash can destroys it, and too few try a full format of a drive.

A full format writes zeros over the filesystem structure and the data it holds, therefore completely obliterating it. A quick format just wipes the structure, leaving the information behind to be pieced back together. A delete usually just removes records about the document from the filesystem structure, leaving its contents behind.
Obviously, you want at least full format, but users don't know that, Diesburg writes. Even better, you should do a full format, then fill up the drive fully with random data, then format it again. Or ... just use a hammer because the wear-leveling algorithms in the flash chips will probably mess up attempts to overwrite data.
Another alternative is encrypting the entire filesystem and then destroying the key, rendering the scrambled data useless to anyone if the cryptography is strong enough.
 
Love the blurb at the bottom. Apparently everyone needs to be babysat. Heaven forbid they take personal responsibility.
 

Help Support Us

Become a patron