you can either do two things
1. call the manufacturer and ask how they handle repairs and ask for
written policy on what they claim.
2. destroy the unit
Is all the time debating etc... worth the cost of the unit....
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Stowell [mailto:jts@deforest.k12.wi.us]
Sent: 30 September 2004 14:39
To: jpippin@nc.rr.com; forensics@securityfocus.com
Subject: Re: Securely wiping a "dead" usb pen drive
Maybe you could get them to sign an NDA... :-)
Microwave should destroy everything, but the manufacturer
will notice when all the chips have their traces blown out.
If the flash is what's busted (and obviously the firmware and
microcontroller work, otherwise you wouldn't have a usb
storage-class device :-), your data could easily have been
mapped out by the firmware as being in a bad sector, and
therefore untouchable by you. Google found no way to bypass
that. But my google-fu is weak today...
Good luck,
Tom
Tom Stowell
Network Administrator
DeForest Area School District
520 E. Holum St.
DeForest, WI 53532
Fax: (608)-842-6545
Voice: (608)-842-6500
Email: <jts@deforest.k12.wi.us>
console, n. [From latin consolatio(n) "comfort, spiritual
solace."] A device for displaying or printing condolances or
obituaries for the operator.
-- Stan Kelly-Bootle, The Computer Contradictionary.
"jpippin" <jpippin@nc.rr.com> 09/28/04 08:20PM >>>
Anyone have any idea how to wipe a solid state, lipstick
sized usb drive before returning it to the manufacturer for a
replacement? The drive stopped responding while performing a
complete file encryption of the data using the manufacturer's
software. I have no reason to believe that everything was
actually encrpyted before we hit a nonresponsive state. The
drive still shows up when plugged into any usb port, but
browsing gives an error and a notice that the drive must be
formatted to continue - which doesn't work, either.
This usb drive holds company data and two credit card
numbers, and although we can no longer access the
information, it is still seen by the OSes, which forces me to
infer a potential security risk if the manufacturer can still
read the data. It's not worth the $100 loss for a new one if
I can't be reasonable sure it's unreadable. That said, is
there a decent option to wipe such an inaccessable device?
Magnets won't work on eeprom chips that I'm aware, and
microwave seems kinda questionable, so I'm open for
suggestions. Thanks.
Joel
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