Frequently Asked Questions
UniShred Pro FAQ's
- What is UniShred Pro?
- UniShred Pro is a software product that obliterates data previously
contained on the disk by overwriting one or more specified patterns of ones, zeros and complementary characters onto the computer disk. The patterns comply with the various Department of Defense declassification regulations which pertain to data remanence.
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- Has UniShred Pro been approved for use in classified
environments?
- Yes. UniShred Pro is used in classified environments in all of
the military services. Since the regulations differ from service to service,
please see the list of regulations with which UniShred Pro complies
for the particular approvals that might apply in your circumstances.
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- Is UniShred Pro Year 2000 compliant?
- Yes. UniShred Pro is Year 2000 compliant.
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- When would I use UniShred Pro ?
- Whenever a computer is assigned to a person with a different "need
to know"; whenever a computer is being decommissioned; whenever a computer
is in an unsecured environment; upon completion of a classified project;
upon return from a training or field exercise, and under any circumstances
that security would be enhanced by removal of classified data. When used
for day-to-day housekeeping where regulatory compliance is not required,
and in circumstances where speed is paramount, the user can specify single
pass-patterns without the verify function. This mode of operation assures
the fastest overwrite. A partition or a specified part of the disk may
also be overwritten separately.
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- Doesn’t my operating system
delete (RM) command or format command remove the data from the disk?
- No. The
delete (RM) command merely removes the target file reference
from the disk’s allocation tables, making the space available for new data.
If new data is not written to all of the same area, the original date can
be easily recovered. The operating system’s format command does not perform a low-level
disk format on SCSI disks: that is, it doesn’t write to the data areas
of the disk.
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- Why is UniShred Pro superior to these two methods?
- UniShred Pro writes multi-pass patterns to all addressable areas
of the disk and to the grown defect areas. UniShred Pro verifies that the
writing has, in fact, taken place and reports the details of the procedures
to the user. These reports can be printed and used to document regulatory
compliance.
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- What are some alternative methods of declassifying
disks?
- Declassifying computer hard disks in accordance with applicable
regulations generally requires that there is no chance of anyone recovering
any data from that disk. One such method is physical destruction of the
disk in a secure facility. Another method is to disassemble the disk, degauss
the platters and reassemble the disk, also in a secure environment. Sometimes
disks may be stored with minimum data erasure in a secure location until
the disks are needed again.
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- How did you choose the patterns you use?
- We use the patterns suggested by various Department of Defense
regulations as being most effective for overwriting data. Please see the Regulations table for more details.
The user can
also design his/her own patterns.
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- Do I have to be there while UniShred Pro runs?
- No. UniShred Pro can be fully scripted to run unattended.
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- How do I know that UniShred Pro has completed
its work properly?
- Upon completion of its operation, UniShred Pro displays a full
report of the processes it followed and of its success or failure. (Ask
us for a sample report). If disk errors occur (when not in unattended mode),
the user is permitted to retry or to skip the error. Skips and retries
are recorded in the final report.
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- Can UniShred Pro be used on computers that have
only one disk?
- Yes. UniShred Pro can be run in memory-resident mode to scrub the
single attached disk. Under certain operating systems, UniShred Pro can
be used in self-destruct mode on single disk computers.
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- How does UniShred Pro deal with multiple disks?
- If so instructed, UniShred Pro will scrub multiple attached disks
simultaneously.
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- What is self-destruct mode?
- Self-destruct mode permits the complete overwriting of the hard
disk on a single disk workstation unattended and without requiring external
media.
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- Can UniShred Pro overwrite partitions?
- Yes. If the operating system supports disk partitions, UniShred
Pro can be directed to overwrite a single partition without having to specify
beginning and ending block numbers.
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- Why
would I want to overwrite partitions?
- If the data you wish to remove from disk is all in one partition,
overwriting only that partition will be much faster than overwriting the
whole disk. The programs and data in other partitions will not be disturbed.
In emergency situations, such as an overrun, if you are not going to destroy
the equipment, you can set up procedures to overwrite the most sensitive
data first, followed by the less sensitive data later. In this manner,
you can limit the amount of damage an overrun will cause. In other situations
where speed is essential, UniShred Pro’s partition overwrite is an attractive
alternative to the full disk overwrite.
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- What does this mean from a security viewpoint?
- If you can limit your sensitive data to particular partitions on
a disk, you can overwrite that sensitive data without destroying the rest
of the disk. This provides two things: 1) improved speed, since you are
not overwriting the entire disk, and 2) decreased post-destruction time,
since the rest of the disk will not have to be re-loaded. However, overwriting portions of a disk is not a generally accepted downgrading
procedure. Technically it requires a great deal of skill in setting up
the system to restrict sensitive data to pre-defined locations. Because
of this, there is a high risk of "bleeding" of data across partitions.
There are ways to limit or eliminate the "bleeding" problem,
such as making other partitions read-only, but as stated this requires
a great deal of skill.
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- How can I get UniShred Pro ?
- You can order UniShred Pro licenses directly from Los Altos
Technologies, Inc. with an approved purchase order or credit card. GSA pricing is also available for UniShred
Pro through McBride and Associates, Inc..
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- What if it doesn’t work for me?
- You can return UniShred Pro to the place of purchase within thirty
days for a full refund of the purchase price, exclusive of shipping and
special charges.
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Armor FAQ's
Gabriel FAQ's
Please contact us
with questions or comments.
Return to our home page.
Los Altos Technologies, Inc.
1381 Kildaire Farm Road, Suite 415
Cary, NC 27511
Phone (800) 999-UNIX, (919) 233-9889
Fax (919) 233-6761
E-mail info@lat.com
Specifications, prices and terms are subject to change
without notice. Copyright 1998 Los Altos Technologies.
UniShred Pro is a registered trademark of Los Altos Technologies,
Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Last Update: 3/25/98