Eraser vs. Evidence Eliminator?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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At first glance, it seems as if EE was "better". It offers many features, does a lot of erasing automatically, erases registry entries as well.
BUT: The most important thing about a Sanitization Software is not the number of plugins, but what "Methods" or "Erasing Patterns" it uses.
To my knowledge, EE offers at best a pattern of 0+1+random bit, a pattern whicht can be repeated at least 9 times.
Honestly, this is not enough. Writing static patterns like Zeroes or 1s is not a good idea, random data is much better. And overwriting with that pattern 9 times is not sufficient as well. You should overwrite at least 30 times with good random data (again an Ad: http://v4.livegate.net/wipe ).
What the effective overwrite of this 0+1+random is, I don't know.
Furthermore, noone can check whether EE does indeed write the pattern it tells you. Using open source is much more secure.
In conclusion, stay away from EE! It's much advertised through spamming and you should be seriously concerned about security when using this program.

greets, Anonymous
 
thanks

Thanks a lot for the reply, and the link, it was a good read.

I just finished a DBAN (Dariks Boot and Nuke) of the DoD pattern, it did it 7 times and took roughly 92 hours.

I know this isn't the forum, but method should I use in the DBAN program?

Thanks a lot, appreciate it :)
 
The best thing you can do is overwriting with random data.
Therefore select the "PRNG Stream" Wipe within DBAN. You should verify all passes.
The number of "Rounds" depends on what security level you need.
1 or 2 rounds normally defeat all recovery attempts with software tools.
But, there are methods (with specialized hardware) that can recover data that has been overwritten 20 times or more.
more than 30 rounds maybe defies intelligence.
you can read that at the site as well.
 
Yeah I did read it at the site.

And roughly how long would a 30 pass wipe of PRNG Stream method take on a 80gig HD?

Encase seems to always recover stuff when I use the DoD method, so meh, I'm up for the PRNG method, dude lol.

Thanks, I appreciate all of this.
 
Just though I'd add that EE has a Magnetic Remenance feature for Directories and file structures. Which I don't believe Eraser supports.

Also with the method of deletion by EE, if set to 9 repetitions, that would = 27 rounds of overwriting using the 0+1+random technique.

Sure using Eraser for deleting files would be better than EE because in Eraser you can customize to use any number of repetitions for whateevr method of deletion you want. But using EE as a whole would inevetibly be better.

Obviously, I'm not sure if EE actually does what it says.

I would like to know if anyone has any ground evidence that EE does what it says. It's hell trying to find reviews out there for it amongst all the spam sites EE have set up.
 
the effective number of overwrites with EE is 11!
0+1+ 9xrandom.
Not 27!
 
btw, j3k, do you think EE company is trustworthy when they advertise their product through spamming?
Hell, NO!
 
Hmmm.. OKay, thanks for the link. IInteresting read.

So... Evidence Eliminator is shit and should not be used? If so, should I uninstall it with the software radsoft offer on their page?

Sure, I thought the spam thing was gay, but I thought just a cheap marketing idea. Because when you actually get the software, they seem fairly serious about their work in their Help files and such.

More information would be greatly appreciated, thannks.

And 'Eraser' is the best Data Removal tool?
 
to my knowledge, Eraser is the only open source tool. furthermore you can do as many overwrites as you want.
if your using windows and don't want to wipe your whole partition, Eraser is the best thing out there.
 
Anonymous said:
if your using windows and don't want to wipe your whole partition, Eraser is the best thing out there.
Click to expand...

So if I'm using windows and I DO want to wipe the whole partition (and the entire hard drive), is DBAN my best choice?
 
First let me say that Evidence Eliminator has the worst marketing and advertising policies of any company I have ever seen. However, it has been my experience that EE itself is a good product. I have been using it for years without any problems. Some people on this message board seem to believe that EE does not live up to its claims and that no tests exist proving it says what it does. See here for a test where EE defeated EnCase. In EE's defense I would like to make the following points:

1. Data destruction from EE, Eraser, or any other wiping program will raise suspicion when a person is being investigated.

Court Sanctions Plaintiff for Trying to Defeat EnCase with Evidence Eliminator


In a recent civil case, the court ruled on the use of Evidence Eliminator by the plaintiff; Kucala Enterprises, Ltd. v. Auto Wax Co., Inc., 2003 WL 21230605 (N.D.Ill.), May 27, 2003. This case highlights the disastrous results that can befall a litigant that uses a wiping program such as Evidence Eliminator. In this patent infringement case in federal court in Illinois, the district court, in response to a discovery request by the defendant, had ordered the inspection of a computer used by the plaintiff. The defendant then hired an experienced forensic investigator to use EnCase to create a forensic image and analyze the plaintiff's computer.

On February 28th the investigator imaged the subject computer. His analysis revealed that the plaintiff had employed Evidence Eliminator on his computer between midnight and 4 AM on February 28th to delete and overwrite over 12,000 files, and that an additional 3,000 files had been deleted and overwritten three days earlier. In addressing the proprietary of the plaintiff's use of Evidence Eliminator, the Court stated "Any reasonable person can deduce, if not from the name of the product itself, then by reading the website, that Evidence Eliminator is a product used to circumvent discovery. Especially telling is that the product claims to be able to defeat EnCase . . ." (emphasis added).

The Court described the plaintiff's actions as "egregious conduct" that was wholly unreasonable, and found the plaintiff at fault for not preserving evidence that it had a duty to maintain. As a result, the Magistrate Judge recommended to the district court that the plaintiff's case be dismissed with prejudice, and that the plaintiff be ordered to pay the defendant's attorney fees and costs incurred with respect to the issue of sanctions.
Click to expand...
                    link

2. Destroying data requires a competent user and quality wiping software.

...
As far as evaluating file wiping products, I have found that their
capabilities really depend on the users. Often times it is quite obvious
that someone has used a wiping product, and in certain contexts that fact
can be more harmful than what was wiped. Windows systems and application
software leave file artifacts all over hard drives, and it's rare to find
someone who can clean a system without leaving tracks.

Troy Larson
Computer Forensics, Electronic Evidence and Legal Support
Fiderus Strategic Security and Privacy Services
...
Click to expand...
                    link

3. Robin Hood Software seems to be aware of Radsoft.

... As for the link to radsoft.net, beware. It is just another cheap & trashy imitation of EE by a sore competitor.
Click to expand...
                    link

4. PC magazine gave both EE and Eraser four stars out of five in their data erasers review.

I use both Evidence Eliminator and Eraser on two different computers and both seem to do an excellent job keeping my hard drives clean.
 
the effective number of overwrites with EE is 11!
0+1+ 9xrandom.
Not 27!
Click to expand...
Um... Wrong.

3 x 9 = 27

It (Evidence Eliminator) writes with 0s then 1s then random garbage. So 9 writes/repetitions of data destruction would = 27.

So if I'm using windows and I DO want to wipe the whole partition (and the entire hard drive), is DBAN my best choice?
Click to expand...

Yes, DBAN is the best. It ensures total protection.

--

Thanks for all that info on EE, 'Guest'. I appreciate that. I was actually beginning to question whether or not EE is actually good. I currently use both EE and Eraser.
 
thnx

Thank you everyone!

I got myself a copy of EnCase.

Both Eraser and EnCase do what they say :D
 
Just out of interest, where did you get EnCase from and are you using it with a dongle?
 
.

EnCase can be found on Overnet/Shareaza and the like. And Evidence Eliminator. Eraser and such defeat EnCase regardless of a dongle in use or not.
 
Entered 'd1' as my Username accidently.

Woops, entered 'd1' as my Username accidently.
 
How good is EnCase? I hear PC PC Inspector File Recovery and System Mechanic's Search&Recover do just as good job.
 
In terms of recovery, they're all the same. They all allow for non-intrusive file recovery, which is legal (as far as I know.).
 
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