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Can data be wiped if hardware stolen
- Thread starter joepalm
- Start date
A PC hardware definetely does NOT support this kind of function.
However ...
I'm sure you can find someone that can build you a small DOS or WINDOWS application for you .... that would run in each boot and ask you for a password or some other ID confirmation (if you don't enter the right code 5 times then it should perform a Format of the HDD)
Hope that helped. Michael Manos
Automation R&D
However ...
I'm sure you can find someone that can build you a small DOS or WINDOWS application for you .... that would run in each boot and ask you for a password or some other ID confirmation (if you don't enter the right code 5 times then it should perform a Format of the HDD)
Hope that helped. Michael Manos
Automation R&D
tvale,
If the info you are talking about is so sensitive then it should be secured with encryption on your machines, or archived off and stored in a safe. There are a number of straightforward ways to secure data.
If the hypothetical thief is just after the hardware - the chances of them being remotely interested in your machine's data is slim to none.
If the data is so sensitive that you fear corporate malpractice, any such organisation stooping so low would have the means to circumvent any "security" you installed.
However, if the data is incriminating in some way that would prevent you from reporting the items as stolen for fear of the data being interrogated, then...
Finally, achieving an effective solution for what you want is neither free nor without risk. I would suggest you speak with a local IT agency with regards to this problem - Unfortunately, there are very few cheap ways to get top class security.
If the data is more valuable than the equipment then you need to spend at least as much on its security as you did on the equipment - I stand to be corrected on that point ;-)
Regards. It not what you say but how you say it that counts...apparently.
If the info you are talking about is so sensitive then it should be secured with encryption on your machines, or archived off and stored in a safe. There are a number of straightforward ways to secure data.
If the hypothetical thief is just after the hardware - the chances of them being remotely interested in your machine's data is slim to none.
If the data is so sensitive that you fear corporate malpractice, any such organisation stooping so low would have the means to circumvent any "security" you installed.
However, if the data is incriminating in some way that would prevent you from reporting the items as stolen for fear of the data being interrogated, then...
Finally, achieving an effective solution for what you want is neither free nor without risk. I would suggest you speak with a local IT agency with regards to this problem - Unfortunately, there are very few cheap ways to get top class security.
If the data is more valuable than the equipment then you need to spend at least as much on its security as you did on the equipment - I stand to be corrected on that point ;-)
Regards. It not what you say but how you say it that counts...apparently.
mudskipper
Technical User
I agree that your best course of action is probably to save any sensitive data to a removable media and then secure the media itself. Of course, make sure that you have a good backup as well ;-)
Bottom line? When you figure it out, maybe you should clue in the FBI LOL
(just one of many US gov examples) Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________
Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"
Bottom line? When you figure it out, maybe you should clue in the FBI LOL
(just one of many US gov examples) Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________
Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"
effennel
This is essentially what microsoft has done with xp.
They have tied parts of the machine into the algorithm
with the key so that if you change more than a couple things with the machine you need to reregister.
With a same type program you could have it deny access to the drive.
This is essentially what microsoft has done with xp.
They have tied parts of the machine into the algorithm
with the key so that if you change more than a couple things with the machine you need to reregister.
With a same type program you could have it deny access to the drive.
franklin97355
Technical User
effennel:
You wouldn't. But that's the price you pay for security. You would not have to encrypt the whole drive, just the data.
You wouldn't. But that's the price you pay for security. You would not have to encrypt the whole drive, just the data.
why not get a cheap hard drive caddy and put your sensitive data on the secondary drive that can be removed, and keep your OS and everthing else on the primary, then you could encrypt your secondary drive without affecting the performance of your machine.
How about decrypting the data to and running it from a ramdrive? On shutdown you encode it back to the hard drive.
Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
of course, there are government and other sources that can, for a price, read the data off the disk no matter how many times you write over it...
So! either (a) don't commit super-sensitive data to machines that can be stolen or impounded - or - (b) encrypt all sensitive data onto separate data drives, using the most secure encryption routines you can afford...
Neither is perfect; but if you have secrets, they have a value in respect to time...
If you want to prevent, say, your secret terrorist plans from being captured by the CIA, you might as well forget it... If you want to prevent your porn from getting you incarcerated, ditto... The government of most countries have ways to make your computer sing like Loretta Lynn...
OTOH, if you want to prevent "ABC Corporation" from reading your secret formula for making cheaper left-handed grotomizying hydrostators or some other high-tech widget, you can feel relatively safe because your competition doesn't have the time, money, or expertise to decrypt--it would be easier to reverse-engineer one...
Good luck!!
Setnaffa is an MCP-W2K (working on W2K) with a few other certs, too...
So! either (a) don't commit super-sensitive data to machines that can be stolen or impounded - or - (b) encrypt all sensitive data onto separate data drives, using the most secure encryption routines you can afford...
Neither is perfect; but if you have secrets, they have a value in respect to time...
If you want to prevent, say, your secret terrorist plans from being captured by the CIA, you might as well forget it... If you want to prevent your porn from getting you incarcerated, ditto... The government of most countries have ways to make your computer sing like Loretta Lynn...
OTOH, if you want to prevent "ABC Corporation" from reading your secret formula for making cheaper left-handed grotomizying hydrostators or some other high-tech widget, you can feel relatively safe because your competition doesn't have the time, money, or expertise to decrypt--it would be easier to reverse-engineer one...
Good luck!!
Setnaffa is an MCP-W2K (working on W2K) with a few other certs, too...
senaffa is right - writing random 0s and 1s does not secure a disk.
Think of a 0 having a magnetisation of 0 and a 1 having a magnetisation of 100.
When you write a 0 back over the 1 the magnetisation does not get returned to 0 but something like 2 or 3. The exact value may depend on how long that spot on the disk surface was a 1. There are various reasons for this such as getting the erase current right and getting the read/write heads exactly aligned.
A commercial disk controller will take a magnetisation value of 3 and round it down to zero so that you read a zero rather than a one. If it sees something like 20 it tries to reread regarding the bad value as a bad sector.
However, a government can create its own controller to look at the actual magnetisation values. It can also look at sectors marked as bad because they have data stored at a non-standard value.
Writing random 0s and 1s is possibly ok for standard commercial needs but the only way to be really sure is to dissolve the disk in acid.
Sleep easily at night.
Think of a 0 having a magnetisation of 0 and a 1 having a magnetisation of 100.
When you write a 0 back over the 1 the magnetisation does not get returned to 0 but something like 2 or 3. The exact value may depend on how long that spot on the disk surface was a 1. There are various reasons for this such as getting the erase current right and getting the read/write heads exactly aligned.
A commercial disk controller will take a magnetisation value of 3 and round it down to zero so that you read a zero rather than a one. If it sees something like 20 it tries to reread regarding the bad value as a bad sector.
However, a government can create its own controller to look at the actual magnetisation values. It can also look at sectors marked as bad because they have data stored at a non-standard value.
Writing random 0s and 1s is possibly ok for standard commercial needs but the only way to be really sure is to dissolve the disk in acid.
Sleep easily at night.
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