Another Lesson in Computer Security

[REWahoo]

This has been discussed before, but a reminder can't hurt...

'I JUST BOUGHT YOUR HARD DRIVE'

One year ago, Hank Gerbus had his hard drive replaced at a Best Buy store in Cincinnati. Six months ago, he received one of the most disturbing phone calls of his life.

"Mr. Gerbus," Gerbus recalls a stranger named Ed telling him. "I just bought your hard drive in Chicago."

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

 

[shiny]

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

And I thought DH was paranoid when he did that! Seems like a good idea now.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There are folks who buy as many old hard drives as they can...cheaper and easier than trying to steal identity information when a lot of folks 'recycle' these, sell them or give them away and all of your passwords are in IE's password cache...

 

[brewer12345]

Heh, you reminded me of this: http://amirtofangsazan.blogspot.com/

 

[Leonidas]

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

I turn them over to my kids. If there is anything that young men type children are naturals at, it is destroying things. That same talent is the reason why they are not allowed anywhere near any computer components of mine while they are still in use.

I bought a used PC from a guy once and he had left tons of personal letters (reeaallly personal) on the HD. You can learn a lot more than you ever wanted to know, or should know, by reading what's on their computer.

I use a shredding program that meets govt specs with something like 30 times overwriting, format the drive twice, use a big magnet and then still let the boys demolish it with hammers before I take a used drive to the recycling center. After reading that article I think I will add a drill to the boys' repetoire.

Call me paranoid, but I have done my share of wiretaps and mail covers and I don't even want to remember how many mornings started with 4 AM trash runs to see what the bad guys were careless enough to throw out on the curb.

 

[Cool Dood]

Call me paranoid, but I have done my share of wiretaps and mail covers and I don't even want to remember how many mornings started with 4 AM trash runs to see what the bad guys were careless enough to throw out on the curb.

What government department were you with?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

If he told you, he'd have to kill you.

 

[REWahoo]

Call me paranoid, but I have done my share of wiretaps and mail covers and I don't even want to remember how many mornings started with 4 AM trash runs to see what the bad guys were careless enough to throw out on the curb.

What government department were you with?

Isn't it obvious? USDS (US Department of Sanitation).

 

[laurence]

Sledgehammer  can't be beat.  Still if you have a reason to keep a hard drive functioning, or would like to ensure data no longer needed is gone (to prevent a burglar from robbing you twice when they burgle your computer). Try this product:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,6270,00.asp

BC Wipe is used by the govt. and contractors to sanitize drives.  Crank the overwrite up to 7 times.

 

[Nords]

"Mr. Gerbus," Gerbus recalls a stranger named Ed telling him. "I just bought your hard drive in Chicago."

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

Too many pronouns... the object of the subject is still the hard drive, right?  Anybody seen Mr. Gerbus or Ed lately?

 

[justin]

Too many pronouns... the object of the subject is still the hard drive, right? Anybody seen Mr. Gerbus or Ed lately?

Nords, I heard the Hawaii schools are in desperate need of highly educated grammar teachers. Maybe teaching grammar is your avocation

 

[Nords]

Nords, I heard the Hawaii schools are in desperate need of highly educated grammar teachers.  Maybe teaching grammar is your avocation

Yeah, I'd handle that job about as well as Dave Barry's "Mister Language Person."

I wouldn't make it past the first teacher's meeting, either...

 

[Cool Dood]

Nords, I heard the Hawaii schools are in desperate need of highly educated grammar teachers. Maybe teaching grammar is your avocation

Yeah, I'd handle that job about as well as Dave Barry's "Mister Language Person."

I wouldn't make it past the first teacher's meeting, either...

The first time I read that, I thought you wrote "I wouldn't make it past first teacher's mate, either..." and I was going to tell you that the rest of the world doesn't have the same ranks as the navy..

 

[REWahoo]

Nords, I heard the Hawaii schools are in desperate need of highly educated grammar teachers. Maybe teaching grammar is your avocation

Yeah, I'd handle that job about as well as Dave Barry's "Mister Language Person."

I wouldn't make it past the first teacher's meeting, either...

I recall T-Al was really into grammar and spelling. Maybe that's where he went.

Have you seen him over there anywhere?

 

[justin]

The first time I read that, I thought you wrote "I wouldn't make it past first teacher's mate, either..." and I was going to tell you that the rest of the world doesn't have the same ranks as the navy..

Cool it cool dood or Nords is going to send you to the XO's office.

 

[Cool Dood]

The first time I read that, I thought you wrote "I wouldn't make it past first teacher's mate, either..." and I was going to tell you that the rest of the world doesn't have the same ranks as the navy..

Cool it cool dood or Nords is going to send you to the XO's office.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

"Mr. Gerbus," Gerbus recalls a stranger named Ed telling him. "I just bought your hard drive in Chicago."

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

Too many pronouns... the object of the subject is still the hard drive, right? Anybody seen Mr. Gerbus or Ed lately?

The object is not necessarily the hard drive. I dont think anyone has ever seen Mr. Gerbus or Ed, and certainly never together at the same time. Which at this point makes them suspiciously dead, and the same person.

Whadda ya want for free?

 

[Leonidas]

What government department were you with?

Even though they don't make me go to work, the direct deposit keeps showing up every two weeks so let's don't summon the devil by uttering it's foul name. In general, I'll say I worked for the police department of a very large metropolitan city somewhere South of 33 degrees North but spent a lot of my career assigned to, supervising or commanding task forces made up of different state, local, federal and military agencies and organizations.

What government department were you with?

Isn't it obvious? USDS (US Department of Sanitation).

I like that one. One night I told a girl at a party that I was an "attitudinal engineer". What's that? Well, I respond all over the city to reports of bad attitudes and set out to fix them. If I can't make the necessary adjustments in the field I bring the problem into our special facility downtown where they contain the problem until fixed - or they send it on to specialists in long term attitude adjustment. Or, I would tell people I was an etiquette authority - I lived to stamp out rude behavior no matter how bad it was.

 

[sgeeeee]

"Mr. Gerbus," Gerbus recalls a stranger named Ed telling him. "I just bought your hard drive in Chicago."

Thats why I remove them and hit them with a sledge hammer 10-12 times before throwing them out.

Too many pronouns... the object of the subject is still the hard drive, right?  Anybody seen Mr. Gerbus or Ed lately?

You would think that Gerbus and Ed would see CFB coming after the first time and not let him hit them again.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There wouldnt need to BE a second time...

Did we change something on the board with regards to the quoting? It appears to be carrying prior quotes in requotes and while that may make some things slightly clearer, its making a lot of things really hard to read.

 

[REWahoo]

Did we change something on the board with regards to the quoting?

We?

It appears to be carrying prior quotes in requotes and while that may make some things slightly clearer, its making a lot of things really hard to read.

I take it you don't like the new "nested quote" feature?

 

[Cool Dood]

Just for the record, I'm a big fan of the nested quotes...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We?

As long as I'm a $ contributing member and producing about 1/3 of the content, yes..."WE".

I take it you don't like the new "nested quote" feature?

Not in the least. Much of the time i end up with a bunch of flotsam and jetsam that I have to edit out or I need to pull up a scoreboard to see where I need to put the quote and unquotes to fit the responses into the pile o' stuff.

Like I said, about 10-20% of the time its nice to provide some clarity to a quote of a quote of a quote. The rest of the time its kinda a pain in the butt...

This response in particular took a bit of time to sort out.

I keep removing some extraneous quote/unquotes and when I preview, they get put back in

I'd much rather have a "user ignore" feature than this.

 

[Cool Dood]

I'd much rather have a "user ignore" feature than this.