The infamous but very useful dd command in Linux can be used to wipe a disk or partition by zeroing it out. People say "dd" stands for "disk destroyer". I use it to write Raspberry Pi images to sd cards, but get confused and you can mess up your hard drive. For the uninitiated, part of the command line is if=what you want to write and of=where you want to write it. The one letter difference could get you in trouble very quickly if you are not paying attention. Smile.
Rill Mobeen Iqbal wrote:
Hi Mike.hmm, an interesting point! something like the wipe utility could be a candidate for inclusion unless people know of a better program? to be honest i've never wiped a drive in linux, though i'm sure there are a number of utilities around. i'll put it on the list for inclusion/testing, many thanks for the suggestion keep them coming!Mo. On 26/07/2014 10:36, M F Mason wrote:Hello Mo, I was wondering whether it might be a good idea to include any tools dealing with such areas as: Drive Cleansing, File Shredding, and System Clean-up. for example,if I look at the Acronis TrueImage user guide I see something like the following:Acronis True Image Home contains utilities for secure destruction of data on an entire hard disk drive, individual partitions, as well as for erasing individual files and eliminatinguser system activity traces. When replacing an old hard drive with a new, higher-capacity one,one may unwittingly leave on the old disk lots of personal and confidential informationthat can be recovered, even if one has reformatted it. The Acronis DriveCleanser providesfor the destruction of confidential information on hard disk drives and/or partitions with the help of techniques that meet or exceed most national and state standards. You can select an appropriate data destruction method depending on the importance of your confidential information. The File Shredder provides the same capabilities for individual files and folders. Finally, the System Clean-up wizard ensures elimination of all your activity traces; while working with a PC, you leave thousands of bytes of evidence showing your actions (records in various system files) that you don't even know about. This could include user names and passwords, as well as other personal information that could be used to steal your identity if it fell into the wrong hands. This utility wipes them completely from the disk drive.Given that I know little or nothing about Linux, I have no knowledge whether similar kinds of utilities exist. Just some thoughts, Many thanks, Mike. At 02:00 26/07/2014, you wrote:Hi.2 excellent suggestions. in terms of irc clients, what's better? xChat or Irssi? i've not used either but is there 1 people would prefer over the other?Mo. On 25/07/2014 22:00, M Lakhani wrote:Yep agreed.Also, something like xChat or similar irc client would probably aid collaboration.HTH Muzz Sent from my iPhoneOn 24 Jul 2014, at 16:48, Rill <starbasecafe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I'm wondering if nmap would be a good candidate for inclusion. I use it a lot.Rill Agent Orange wrote:All great ideas Mo.The reason why I suggest a password recovery tool, as well as (or in preference to) a password reset tool, is that for folks who may have implemented EFS (Encrypting File System) on their Windows machines, resetting a Windows account password using one of these third party tools will be likely to render files encrypted with EFS on that account unreadable (unless they have had the foresight to back up their encryption keys, and even then it can be problematic).Of course, no harm in having both password recovery and password reset options.On the subject of disc encryption, I've been thinking about my own data security recently. Having spent quite a lot of time researching EFS, I am reluctant to use it. In one way this is a pitty as it is readily available on all modern versions of Windows, is easy to implement, and provides transparent, on-the-fly encryption and decryption. Unfortunately, it's exact operation on Windows 7 is poorly documented by Microsoft, and there are doubts about its efficacy because of weaknesses in the NTLM hashes used to protect the Windows account password, which is used as the basis for the file encryption key.This has lead me to look at the recently defunct TrueCrypt and other solutions like DiscCryptor as possible alternatives to EFS.TrueCrypt, despite having been officially closed down by its developers, might still be a viable encryption option. An independent security audit paid for from crowd funding and carried out by iSEC Partners has reported no significant flaws or backdoors, and a new team is being assembled to take the project forward under a new name. Version 7.1a together with all documentation is being temporarily hosted elsewhere and can still be obtained. This is a well understood tool with excellent documentation.DiscCryptor has virtually no documentation to support it, though it has a loyal band of enthusiastic reviewers who commend it. Unfortunately, the lack of documentation makes it difficult to determine how it would work in different scenarios, such as when using disc imaging.So not really certain as yet which way I will go, but at present, probably leaning towards TrueCrypt.Anyway, my point is that both of these products advise the creation of a rescue CD before applying the encryption. In the case of TrueCrypt, I believe it is a generic rescue CD which could be used to rescue files encrypted with TrueCrypt on any machine. In the case of discCryptor, I believe the ISO is tailored to each specific installation.This would make TrueCrypt a better candidate for inclusion in a live rescue CD than DiscCryptor.This is all a very long-winded way of asking whether it might be feasible to include a TrueCrypt rescue tool?I know that Image For Windows, which is an disc imaging package, has included a Linux version of TrueCrypt in its Live Linux boot CD. I do not know which Linux distro is used in the Image For Linux live boot CD, but it is a sort of command prompt type environment, where the Image for Linux interface looks and feels very much like CloneZilla.Sorry for the ramble and if you made it this far, thanks! Phil -----Original Message-----From: vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mobeen IqbalSent: 18 July 2014 10:10 To: vi-tech-testers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxSubject: [vi-tech-testers] Functions or packages people would like included?Hello phil.Many thanks for the suggestion! Yes i totally agree, the only thing that we have to bear in mind is this might end up as a dvd release. I will be looking at ophcrack over the next few days. I will also be looking into including an MBR repair tool, file recovery tool, windows password reset tool, and possibly some network troubleshooting tools if people want them. If anyone has any other suggestions, please don't hesitate to respond.Thanks for reading, Mo. Agent Orange <agentorange@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Mo,Probably getting ahead of myself here, but one tool which it might be useful to have on a Linux rescue CD is a Windows password recovery tool such as Ophcrack. You can already download and burn Ophcrack as a Live CD ISO which boots into a desktop GUI version of Linux, but of course it doesn't talk so useless at present. There is another version which runs under Linux/Unixbut not sure whether it would run under Arch. See this link: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ Phil -----Original Message----- From: vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx[mailto:vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mobeen IqbalSent: 16 July 2014 20:23 To: vi-tech-testers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [vi-tech-testers] has anyone tested the new image? Hello Everyone.Its been rather quiet on here to say the least. Has anyone apart from Rill had a chance to test the new image? the next stage is going to be compiling a list of packages or functions that people would like to see from a live rescue CD version of linux, and documenting the various programs chosen fora specific task. but of course, a list isn't a list without people's feedback/comments, so please keep your feedback coming. thanks for reading, Mo.
