Re: Secure deletion on Mac OS X

I don't know about Mac os x tools, but I recall seeing somewhere that the 
gutman method is no longer as secure as it once was due to modern drive 
technology (someone here may be able to better expand on this).  If I recall 
properly, part of it was to due with transparent mapping of bad sectors to 
reserve sectors thereby leaving the data that was in the bad sector untouched 
(one way to 'hide' data is to flag the sectors it resides in bad and use a 
low-level disk editor to retrieve/modify the data later).  There were a few 
more points as to why gutman is no longer absolutely secure, but I forget them 
all and I'm not in front of my system right now.

Geoff

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.  

-----Original Message-----
From: barcajax@gmail.com
Date: 30 Apr 2007 03:00:53 
To:security-basics@securityfocus.com
Subject: Secure deletion on Mac OS X

I use Eraser to securely delete files on my Windows XP desktop. I use CCleaner 
to securely delete my surfing history, cookies and cache.

I'm looking for similar freeware secure deletion tools that can be used on Mac 
OS X. Mac OS X comes with its own secure deletion option but it does not have 
any options to configure. How does it fair against a tool like Eraser? Is there 
a better tool for Mac? How about a freeware tool to securely clear my surfing 
history, cookies and cache? My preference is for both tools to support the 
Gutmann method.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.