Forensic and Data Recovery Experts Eraser Challenge !

Hi azrael

I think I know what your problem was !

We even made a web page for you !

http//eraser.heidi.ie/trac/wiki/InstallingBetas

Eraser tries to protect its users from malicious people (we have a plug-in option) by signing the plug-ins.

I hope this is the answer as to why you couldn’t use Eraser V6. If you have read the web page linked and think that this is not your problem please post back and I will personally double check your bug report.

If you can stand the heckling ( and judging from your persistance and humour so far, I'd say you can )

lol Ha ha Bring it on my friend, bring it on !! I have lived with the same woman for 14 years, there is nothing you can tell me about “heckling” that I haven’t already suffered !!

I'd prefer if you post notification of the update here, I suspect that there are a _great_ many people who are watching the project with interest here - keep being open, and while you'll not necessarly win friends, I suspect that there will be at least a grudging mutual respect as software/security/computer professionals

Beta4 is just for you. In fact V6beta4 will from now on be known as “EraserV6Azrael”. D

Hi DFICSI )

Thank you for your post, I agree with everything you said. I use Truecrypt myself and that is why I suggested the Truecrypt plausible deniability in Eraser V6.2. I even managed to get Svante (A crypto God) to double check the CSPRNG for us.

If I had time to donate to you Overwriter, I would. Sadly I'm permanently swamped.

Damn, just like the best women, the good ones are always spoken for ! lol

Hi CdtDelta

I use TrueCrypt as well (and PGP, etc). Doesn't make me a bad person, it's just a tool to use a job. Yes these tools from a Forensic standpoint make our jobs more difficult, but then people who have ill intent aren't going to play by the rules anyway.
I'd rather be aware of the tools and have the opportunity to work with the creators than not have the tool at all. You're worse off when someone makes a tool and you don't know anything about it.

Quality post, I can’t really add anything to it. wink

I understand everyone’s concern here. I am a law abiding citizen, never been arrested, never stolen anything, never done anything my mother would not have approved of but I do use Eraser. Truecrypt, PGP etc.

But…as CdtDelta says these tools can be used for good and evil. I have had sleepless nights, doubts and deliberations. After much thought I believe Eraser should be freely available, furthermore I believe it should work well for its users.

Eraser at worst removes crime (evidence), at best it removes the ability to commit crime (peoples deleted data, credit card details, medical records etc).

Thanks everyone for your posts here. If anyone has changed their mind and wishes to help Eraser please contact me on the Eraser forum, a few “volunteers” have let me down so I would welcome any help.

Eraser is your friend. wink

Hi )

OK here is Beta4 or “EraserV6Azrael” !! lol

Download

SHA-1 8f8e5bbc19b83e0e5ee4243d86aecd2ccae1ccca

SHA-256 97202f560c3e774936ad9a0b523bad51fb367a2667068b
1e50924fb1b1591c10

Whirlpool 917649025132e156cff249daca37e7e1b9085b0a8030d
4dfa857db1f5b64f5888549c68fd3c9653b785cd993f664fb9e4bb4aa
62b690dda19f26b3d6f5c391ab

Eraser Trac

Eraser Forum

Please test V6 as intensely as you can ! Any comments or bug finds are gratefully received ! …….Well most are ! lol

I think I know what your problem was !

We even made a web page for you !

http//eraser.heidi.ie/trac/wiki/InstallingBetas

Eraser tries to protect its users from malicious people (we have a plug-in option) by signing the plug-ins.

I hope this is the answer as to why you couldn’t use Eraser V6. If you have read the web page linked and think that this is not your problem please post back and I will personally double check your bug report.

That has to be the most polite RTFM I've ever been given 😉 oops

Beta4 is just for you. In fact V6beta4 will from now on be known as “EraserV6Azrael”. D

I'm flattered ! Thanks for the update on status - I'll try and give it a go today - if not, then definately tomorrow for the installation at the very least.

That has to be the most polite RTFM I've ever been given

lol

I'm flattered ! Thanks for the update on status - I'll try and give it a go today - if not, then definately tomorrow for the installation at the very least.

Thank you for testing it ! I look forward to your results. wink …… ?

Why would you create a software that can be used for malicious purposes? I suppose anything could be a weapon but this is a weapon which could only be used as a weapon for malicious purposes; despite what you might say. No legit institution or person would ever use your software for legit reasons.

And, it is not a weapon that is helpful to the good guys, but it is for the bad guys? I don't get you, why anyone would fight for the side of criminals is beyond me. Why be a part of the disease when you could be a part of the cure? Why not use your skill to help others rather than seek to destroy them.

I am sure someday you will be victimized by someone electronically and you will seek your justice from one of us only to find that they who abused you had used your software to cover their tracks and in your case it worked. Now that would be ironic and well deserved. Live by the sword and die by the sword my friend.

I don't know why, but you attempt to present to us challenges that are unnecessary, so I hope beneath it all there is a motive not spoiled by a disenchantment of the world, but of one that is good made not by the result of the payload from your weapon but by the result of making people like me try harder.

No legit institution or person would ever use your software for legit reasons.

I must confess I've used Eraser myself for the past 6 months or so, and I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

In all seriousness, there are legitimate (and important) uses for such a tool, perhaps it's useful to list some of them here?

Why would you create a software that can be used for malicious purposes?

Why do you think it is only for malicious purposes? Do you not use a disk wiping utility to sanitize your media prior to collection? What about encryption, is that only for malicious purposes?

I would counter that many tools can be used maliciously. Should hex editors be limited only to the "good guys"?

In a larger world view do you not recognize the need for people in oppressed societies to protect themselves from what would be considered unlawful searches in the US? Let's say you were a human rights advocate in insert name of favorite despotic dictatorship here and you post on the atrocities you witness. After you post you need to wipe traces of your post from your computer for fear of say having your hands chopped off. Or is my description a malicious use?

EDIT I have been an Eraser user for years.

Do you use a paper shredder? Isn't that a malicious purpose?

Using a program like eraser is the same as using a paper shredder.

Why would you create a software that can be used for malicious purposes?

So purging old drives of classified materials in the military is a malicious purpose? Required by the DoD.

So wiping drives before storing evidence on them is a malicious purpose? Good forensics practice.

So wiping a drive that was infected with viruses and malware is a malicious purpose? I'd have a hard time trusting the system otherwise.

So wiping a drive before dontating it to a thirift shop or charity is a malicious purpose? Plain old common sense.

These are all problems I see on almost a daily basis - and none of them against law - in fact, in some cases, the law supports and even demands these uses to prevent the leakage of personal and/or classified information. If you don't wipe a drive before using it in an investigation, then where did that "evidence" come from? In any case, not using a clean container is sloppy work.

I work with a local thrift shop and when people donate their old computers, I wipe the drives before they are resold or dontated to a local charity.

And before I even hand a USB drive over to someone, I make sure that the only thing on the drive is what I want them to see - and I wipe the rest.

None of these purposes are malicious, and they are all good common sense. While I don't do anything on my computer that is illegal (where I live anyway), I also don't want anyone poking around in my stuff. I also travel a lot - and there are different laws all over the world on what is and is not legal - protecting yourself is just common sense.

Two quotes to consider

"If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him."
– Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duc de Richelieu

"Should the citizens of a country have the right to create and store documents which their government cannot read?"
– Rivest, Ronald, speaking before the MIT Telecommunications Forum, Spring 1994

I believe in privacy… that's why I support wiping tools and encryption.

bj