Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: entreterra on May 16, 2013, 04:28 am
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How might one wipe a computer clean of any trace of tor? I know deleting the files won't totally wipe every piece of memory from the system, but is there a way to do this without formating the hardrive? Or is formating the hardrive the only way?
Thanks!
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Even formatting won't remove all traces, since formatting rewrites just certain parts of the drive (metadata for the new filesystem).
The way to remove all traces would be to overwrite the entire drive with random data, and if you're extra paranoid, do it two or three times. If you've never repartitioned that drive, then you only need to do this for the partition which had Tor. For extra paranoia credit, do the same for any swap partitions, since they could contain bits of the Tor software too.
The real question is why delete Tor in the first place? It's completely legal (in most countries) and there are plenty of legitimate uses for it. The only reason I can imagine to destroy any evidence of having Tor is if you're passing through border control into a country with strong censorship (China, Syria, USA, Iran, etc...) and don't want to have them delay you for hours while they copy all your data and "interrogate" you with a blunt object.
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Formatting is the only way OP.
The Guttman method will make life very hard for any LEO trying to recover deleted info.
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Remove traces of TOR? Are you seriously that intimidated by Storm Troopers and Politicos?
Seriously, do you think the Founding Fathers wanted to wipe their minds from thinking about freedom? Liberty? Justice?
This thread is toxic, just like anyone that abandons TOR when the temperature rises. Do you now know what TOR is about: privacy and security. There is nothing criminal about TOR. The only real crime here is the possible future in which possessing TOR source code is criminalized.
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Full disk encryption, then low level format, then you just made yourself a new HDD.
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How might one wipe a computer clean of any trace of tor? I know deleting the files won't totally wipe every piece of memory from the system, but is there a way to do this without formating the hardrive? Or is formating the hardrive the only way?
Thanks!
There are some deleters around that delete files with guttman (35 passes) that remove most of the traces. Some very tiny will still remain but you will make life very very hard for whoever would like to recover the data from them; if then the data you delete was encrypted (and you should always use encryption) then you have nothing to worry about.
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To clear up some myth:
Whilst I fully support the idea of using the Gutman 35 pass method of erasure, it is over-kill as it takes substantially longer than other methods. Nobody in the world has ever recovered data which was erased even using 1 pass contrary to popular belief, this idea they can recover information from the disk was theoretical back when they have entire hard drives less than a few megabytes large and so it was easier to carry out work on them. However these days, disks are far more dense by the order of several magnitudes and it would be close to impossible to recover anything from them which has been overwritten. I myself use 3 passes most of the time and use 35 passes on something I REALLY need to delete. However, if you've already got your full hard drive encrypted, a simple 3 pass erasure will make it far too difficult to ever recover.
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$125 for a brand new 1 TB Hard drive. List all the programs you need to reinstall, get the license/disc/downloads figured out. Then just remove the hard drive, insert new one, and start fresh.
Once you are confident you got everything you needed without traces of tor, drill a few holes in the old HD, burn it, soak it, then watch your garbage man dump someone's trash in a different neighborhood into the truck with your HD and drive away.
I know everyone likes format, defrag, etc etc, but $125 for a new drive that most certainly won't have traces of your old data gave me a piece of mind.
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$125 for a brand new 1 TB Hard drive. List all the programs you need to reinstall, get the license/disc/downloads figured out. Then just remove the hard drive, insert new one, and start fresh.
Once you are confident you got everything you needed without traces of tor, drill a few holes in the old HD, burn it, soak it, then watch your garbage man dump someone's trash in a different neighborhood into the truck with your HD and drive away.
I know everyone likes format, defrag, etc etc, but $125 for a new drive that most certainly won't have traces of your old data gave me a piece of mind.
Why soak it? Water has no effect on disks? Unless you're talking hydrofluoric acid which would be very interesting to watch...
But yeah, I'm with this, new hard drives don't cost much, can be bought in cash at your local store and drilling a few holes is a good idea, but still erase the thing (NOT REFORMAT, ERASE). Remember you can still encrypt your hard drive now and then do an erasure if you are really paranoid and have the time to do so.
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Truecrypt can be used to do a 3 pass overwrite with random data while it encrypts your entire system drive, be aware that this will likely take days or weeks using 3 pass method, depending on HDD size, Truecrypt also has the Guttman 35-pass overwrite method, which potentially could take MONTHS to complete :)
I encrypted a 320GB HDD with a brand new windows partition as a test, that took roughly 6 hours with no overwriting enabled.
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Truecrypt can be used to do a 3 pass overwrite with random data while it encrypts your entire system drive, be aware that this will likely take days or weeks using 3 pass method, depending on HDD size, Truecrypt also has the Guttman 35-pass overwrite method, which potentially could take MONTHS to complete :)
I encrypted a 320GB HDD with a brand new windows partition as a test, that took roughly 6 hours with no overwriting enabled.
On my old laptop, I had a 1Tb hard drive which complete in 2 hours with no overwriting enabled. However, having said that, it was in RAID so I'm not sure if that helped at all.
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How might one wipe a computer clean of any trace of tor? I know deleting the files won't totally wipe every piece of memory from the system, but is there a way to do this without formating the hardrive? Or is formating the hardrive the only way?
Thanks!
Did you go to school? This day and age, every young person should know, from a required computer class, that everything you've ever done on your hard drive is set in stone. The only way to delete what you've done is, basically, the equivalent of scrapping your comp. You have to destroy the hard drive through a hard drive shredder, which is very expensive. Formatting is bullshit, certainly not for the thorough type (the type who doesn't get busted, mind you).
However, unless you're selling, I see no reason for you to worry. No one cares you use or used tor, unless they can link it to a felony, which they can't.
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On my old laptop, I had a 1Tb hard drive which complete in 2 hours with no overwriting enabled. However, having said that, it was in RAID so I'm not sure if that helped at all.
Interesting... the HDD I tested with is singular running in IDE mode, also a laptop.
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How might one wipe a computer clean of any trace of tor? I know deleting the files won't totally wipe every piece of memory from the system, but is there a way to do this without formating the hardrive? Or is formating the hardrive the only way?
Thanks!
Did you go to school? This day and age, every young person should know, from a required computer class, that everything you've ever done on your hard drive is set in stone. The only way to delete what you've done is, basically, the equivalent of scrapping your comp. You have to destroy the hard drive through a hard drive shredder, which is very expensive. Formatting is bullshit, certainly not for the thorough type (the type who doesn't get busted, mind you).
However, unless you're selling, I see no reason for you to worry. No one cares you use or used tor, unless they can link it to a felony, which they can't.
$35 isn't that expensive for a professional grade shredding service, deguassing however is expensive, both are equally effective. And the theory of formatting does work, it just doesn't give full drive coverage since it tends to do what regular system erasures do by removing the file header and awaits to be overwritten. DBAN methods and secure erasure do work - but only in the hands of somebody who recognises the threat can exist beyond just the files. Many people forget that if they hibernate their system with Tor open, that session is then saved in the hibernation file.
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Sorry stexo that was my fault I was actually thinking of degaussers, which are also an option (the expensive one). Shredders can in fact be pretty cheap and are recommended for anyone who owns a computer they don't want anyone looking through.
And I would never trust any sort of formatting program, since there is no way for me to verify they work.
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Of course not, data is stored everywhere. For wiping your HDD, I suggest using dban, it has a few different options for what kind of erasing you need to do, and is extremely simple to use.
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Formatting is the only way OP.
The Guttman method will make life very hard for any LEO trying to recover deleted info.
^^^ this!
first use memtest 86+ on a cd at boot then eject and put in a derick's boot and nuke iso cd and when memtest is done reboot.
select the 7 pass and go to sleep. when u wake up instal whatever os u want.
CLEAN AS A BEAN !!! enjoy :P
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Sledgehammer. Then smaller hammer to breaks up the broken pieces into smaller pieces. Then microwave for 1 minute on high. Then ram the broken, microwaved pieces up the cop's ass when they come to the door.
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Why does he need to destroy his WHOLE HD? That itself seems overkill.
Is the OP using Windows? In that case I am not sure where all the temps and reocovery shit go. In that case, I'd just DBAN it.
In nix, you can use the srm tool, which comes with a 38-pass guntmann on it. You can delete your history/logs/files more securely as it doesn't "hide" them from you as much.
If you've hibernated with TOR on, then that partition needs to be wiped. I'll say this for those who have hidden partitions or folders where TOR is located: NEVER HIBERNATE or LET YOUR COMP SLEEP with tor on.
Why are you so afraid of TOR? If you've used it without a VPN, you might as well just ignore this guntman etc shit as your ISP knows you've used it. At which point it's total disappearance looks suspicious. TOR itself is legal and legit. If you're worried about it, encrypt the TOR bundle you use to do illegal shit, and make public one in which you use for legal/trolling. Make sure you delete TOR logs, however.
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Why does he need to destroy his WHOLE HD? That itself seems overkill.
Is the OP using Windows? In that case I am not sure where all the temps and reocovery shit go. In that case, I'd just DBAN it.
In nix, you can use the srm tool, which comes with a 38-pass guntmann on it. You can delete your history/logs/files more securely as it doesn't "hide" them from you as much.
If you've hibernated with TOR on, then that partition needs to be wiped. I'll say this for those who have hidden partitions or folders where TOR is located: NEVER HIBERNATE or LET YOUR COMP SLEEP with tor on.
Why are you so afraid of TOR? If you've used it without a VPN, you might as well just ignore this guntman etc shit as your ISP knows you've used it. At which point it's total disappearance looks suspicious. TOR itself is legal and legit. If you're worried about it, encrypt the TOR bundle you use to do illegal shit, and make public one in which you use for legal/trolling. Make sure you delete TOR logs, however.
I don't think he NEEDS to, but as of yet we don't know if Tor has little dumps of files anywhere on the system or where he could have unwittingly saved a page etc. It's just a security precaution against unknown leaks of information like I don't know how many times I've accidentally hibernated instead of shutdown and then paranoia made me destroy the entire drive by DBAN and then physically. I've bought at least 10 hard drives in the past 12 months.
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How To Destroy HDD
Rust (ferric oxide - powdered)
Aluminum powder
Ignition: Magnesium
Other than that, bury it in a random location while drunk as a skunk so you don't remember where... or throw it in the ocean.
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How To Destroy HDD
Rust (ferric oxide - powdered)
Aluminum powder
Ignition: Magnesium
Other than that, bury it in a random location while drunk as a skunk so you don't remember where... or throw it in the ocean.
That is soooo low rent!
30 grams 1-2 micron military grade coated aluminum powder +
70 grams ultra fine ball milled potassium perchlorate powder +
weigh each separately and keep separated till next step!
after spraying a piece of craft paper with static guard a little - pour out the contents onto paper.
keeping pile of ingredients in center of paper raise one end and then the other to mix.
( raise left side while lowering right side - then raise right side of paper while lowering left side)
this is called the baby diaper method of mixing.
do this several times till composition is fully mixed.
remember! static electricity is not your friend. 40 grams of this ignited in open air 1 foot from the center of your body will blow u in half.
i would connect a copper ground wire wrapped around your wrist and to the ground wire of your house.
in a 3/4 inch rocket tube insert end plugs 1/4 deep and fill to the end with hot glue gun glue to the top.
let cool and harden then turn over so u can fill with powder.
pour the formula into the tube using the construction paper into the 3/4 inch paper rocket tube that has a 1/4 thickness.
spiral wound of course.
drill hole and insert cannon fuse in end plug - place 1/4 deep and fill the rest with hot glue gun.
both ends of tube are closed now.
after glue hardens ( spike ) wrap end to end till covered and all the way around the body with hemp string.
enjoy!
THAT'S HOW U DO IT LITTLE BOY :P
dont give out any more sub par formulas!