Eraser, Any Possible Backdoors, Security Issues?

D

DVid

New Member
I've used Eraser before and really appreciate the program, especially because it is FREE.

Am I the only one who is a tad bit paranoid that Eraser could be exploited to have a backdoor to send a copy of the original file contents somewhere? Let's be clear, in no way am I suggesting the developers built this in.

The reason I ask is I'm about to send my laptop in for computer service. I have password files, health records, financials, client files. My plan is to copy those to another hard drive and use Eraser to overwrite and delete on my laptop so no service tech can easily peer into my identity related files. My (probably paranoid) fear is, "What if when I go to use Eraser it shoots out a copy to Serverland somewhere?"

Anyway to verify there is no security vulnerability when using this wonderful program?

Thanks.
 
Greg,

Thanks for your reply. Total Virus sounds / looks awesome.

Not really looking for a virus. Some programs make a live connection with the Internet to communicate and that probably wouldn't register as a virus. It's the possibility of a program capturing data before the wipe and sending it out, sort of like what happened with Target and credit cards. It wasn't anything malicious on Target's part but the data was vulnerable those few milliseconds before it was encrypted.

Guess it would be nice to know if programs like this make any connection with the Internet other than when you request them to check for updates.

-DV
 
DVid said:
Greg,

Thanks for your reply. Total Virus sounds / looks awesome.

Not really looking for a virus. Some programs make a live connection with the Internet to communicate and that probably wouldn't register as a virus. It's the possibility of a program capturing data before the wipe and sending it out, sort of like what happened with Target and credit cards. It wasn't anything malicious on Target's part but the data was vulnerable those few milliseconds before it was encrypted.

Guess it would be nice to know if programs like this make any connection with the Internet other than when you request them to check for updates.

-DV
Click to expand...

Hi Dvid,

You are not paranoid. I believe your questions is very interesting.
I did the same question to another forum , but I can't currently write links since this is my first post.
Well nobody seems to have a solid / certain answer.
One thing to do is to disable your internet connection before deleting any file.
Or even start eraser from a computer which will never be connected to an internet connection.
You can also have a firewall to stop any outbound activities of any software you want.
I believe we have nothing to fear , since , it's very hard to have servers to accept huge amounts of data around the world and analyze those. It would need huge resources and many personnel.
Eraser has around 17.000 of downloads per week !
Now imagine the huge data that would need to transfer through the cables.
And I am sure the developers want to have a clean prestige of their software , so it's absolute no way to mess their code in doing that.

Anyway , if there was any security backdoor so far , someone would have reported it , and I have searched high and low in the internet , so far nothing reported.
So I believe Eraser is safe to use.

I know your post is one year old , so let me know , with what you came up with.
 
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