TrueErase: Secure Deletion on Electronic Storage Sarah Diesburg, Chris Meyers, An-I Andy Wang 8/6/2018
Introduction Many computer users believe that files have been completely erased when Files are no longer visible The trashcan is emptied The partition is formatted In reality, only icon to the file is deleted Actual data remains
The Problem Decommissioned storage devices leak sensitive information All headlines within the last year!
What is Secure Deletion? Secure deletion means rendering files completely irrecoverable No forensic analysis should be able to recover data from media
Secure Deletion Complications Flash electronic storage can make it nearly impossible to erase files
Flash Characteristics Locations must first be erased before new data can be written But it can take awhile to erase a location Locations can only be written or erased a small amount of times The flash solution is to rotate locations for writes.
Flash Write Behavior Flash management software rotates the usage of locations Operating System Flash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 7
Flash Write Behavior Flash management software rotates the usage of locations Write gibberish to 2 Operating System Flash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8
Flash Write Behavior Overwrites go to new location instead of original block Dead data left behind until that location is erased Write gibberish to 2 Operating System O(\ks@ Flash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 9
Ideal Secure Deletion Carry out deletion Allow fine-grained deletion Work in acceptable amount of time
TrueErase Securely erase my file! Secure delete Operating System
TrueErase Flash Behavior We can now tell the flash to erase locations Securely delete 2 Operating System Flash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 12
TrueErase Flash Behavior The location can be securely deleted! Operating System Erase! Flash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 13
Why is this hard? Flash management not easily changeable Performance implications Rotating the right locations Operating systems (e.g. Windows) not designed for flash Backward compatibility issues Handling crashes during secure deletion Correctness issues
Current Development – TrueErase
Current Development – TrueErase Programming complete prototype Flash secure deletion algorithm finished Still working on OS expansions Expected to be done for conference paper submission in mid-October
Questions?