[ NNSquad ] Erasing SSD memory securely is much harder than it may appear

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

Erasing SSD memory securely is much harder than it may appear

http://j.mp/h7R4vL  (UCSD Non-Volatile Systems Lab)

     "Our results show that naively applying techniques designed for
      sanitizing hard drives on SSDs, such as overwriting and using
      built-in secure erase commands is unreliable and sometimes
      results in all the data remaining intact. Furthermore, our
      results also show that sanitizing single files on an SSD is much
      more difficult than on a traditional hard drive."

 - - -

Lauren's comments:

With the rise of SSD memory as a replacement for traditional hard
disks, the security and privacy aspects of this situation seem quite
noteworthy, to say the least.  You can bet that those parties (legit
or not) who wish to extract data from laptops, iPads, smartphones, or
other SSD-based devices will already be ahead of the curve.  Ya' think
you really deleted that cleartext before sending out the encrypted
version?  You sure you actually deleted that company confidential
material (or that porn!) before you head back through U.S. Customs?

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
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