Tech column: Wiping Your Hard Disk Clean
Earlier this month, an employee with the Toronto Star newspaper bought a used notebook computer on eBay. The fellow collects old computers as a hobby. But when he started it up, he discovered more than the usual. He found confidential information from the then-Canadian Alliance party. Turns out, it’s a common mistake. Many people just don’t KNOW how to clean a computer off before they dispose of it. Here are some tips.
- Download/Listen to Wiping a Hard Disk Clean (mp3)
Bell’s beautiful m610 handset
I’ve had a chance to test Bell’s new Samsung SPH-m610 handset and it’s a beautiful device. First, the bad news.
AUDIO QUALITY
The sound quality of the phone is muddy and lacks the high-end clarity one needs for normal voice. There were a number of times I had to ask people to repeat themselves, because the phone made them sound like they were Charlie Brown’s teacher. The volume was clear and the network was fine; it just seemed as if an equalizer was present taking the high-end off the phone.
OUTSIDE APPLICATIONS
Meh. I downloaded my usual testing app — Gmail for Mobile — and the m610 made me authenticate fully (manually tapping out my username and password) each time. This is a function of the phone not being able to store cookies, because the app can do it fine. Not impressed.
CAMERA
The camera is beautiful on this handset. 2 megapixels, and the camera even swivels so it either faces you or away from you. Oddly, when you face it to you, it’s not smart enough to flip the picture right-side-up so the images you take are upside down. A small price to pay. The images are beautiful and getting to the camera is simple and quick.
PHONE SPEED
Fast. Superfast. Very nice.
BATTERY LIFE
Power consumption is excellent on this phone.
NICE TOUCHES
This is one of those phones that Bell says you can watch Spiderman on (or any of a number of flicks). But the movies are squashed down to the size of my thumb width — even though by streaming it at a 90-degree angle, they could have gotten much more real estate. I’d never watch a movie on it.
Overall, if you’re not planning to use downloadable Internet apps, this is a great phone. Best used indoors, because the screen performs poorly under bright outside light.
But it’s slim, sexy looking, and will definitely draw attention. 
Your company’s security on a keychain
I had a chance a couple of weeks ago to talk to the folks at RedCannon. They make a USB key called KeyPoint Alchemy which transforms any USB Flash Drive into “a trusted corporate access and storage device.”
It’s really a neat product, actually. It’s meant to be used as a “fleet” of memory sticks, and the administrator can even trigger remote destruction of the data should the key be lost.
Most companies don’t bother to monitor these devices once they leave the building.
Worth looking at if you need that kind of thing.
Note: I was not compensated in any way for this posting. I did not test the actual product out.
More details here.
Are you sure that file is erased?
Here’s the draft “q-line” for this week’s technology column. I thought it was interesting to learn that multiple wipes of a file or disk make no difference. Thoughts? Corrections?
Earlier this month, an employee with the Toronto Star newspaper bought a used notebook computer on eBay. The fellow collects old computers as a hobby. But when he started it up, he discovered more than the usual. He found confidential information from the then-Canadian Alliance party. [story] Turns out, it’s a common mistake. Many people just don’t KNOW how to clean a computer off before they dispose of it.
1. So what did this fellow find on the laptop?
A lot more than the Conservative party probably would have liked. There was a spreadsheet on there that listed more than 4,200 people who held party membership cards in the spring of 2003, or whose membership has lapsed. They also contain the riding association’s budget documents and agendas for events such as the candidate selection meeting held in April 2003. Plus it had various screening and protocol guides for potential candidates, and questions for the incumbent.
2. Was there ANY attempt made to erase that data before they sold it?
Not as far as this fellow who bought it could tell. But that’s actually the norm. Most people don’t really know HOW to erase a hard disk completely. Some people will drag their files into the Recycle Bin icon and think that it’s done. But all it takes is two clicks and one second to put those files right back where they were, so it’s not really that effective. Even if you empty the Recycle Bin, it’s relatively simple to recover those documents.
3. Relatively simple? Maybe for you. How is it done?
Let’s think of a hard disk like a textbook. A textbook has many words in it, and those words are grouped into pages. So that’s like how the data on your computer is grouped into files. But just because that book’s contents are organized into pages, doesn’t necessarily make it easy to find information fast. That’s why books have a Table of Contents that you can look up and jump right to the page you need, right? Every computer has a table of contents. Sometimes it’s called the FAT (or File Allocation Table), sometimes it has other names. But it’s basically an organized list of the files on your computer. (Following me so far?) When you drag a file to that Recycle Bin or Trash icon, then tell it to empty the trash, it SEEMS as if it’s erasing the data in those files.
4. It’s not?
No, it’s not at all. All it’s doing is basically hiding that file’s entry in the Table of Contents. It adds a little note in the Table saying “The space where this file is, is now available for other data.” But it doesn’t actually remove the data. It’s like if you wanted to remove a page from that textbook, rather than ripping the page out, what you’re doing is crossing out its entry in the table of contents. The book still has the page. But it’s now just kind of hidden from the organization scheme. So to UNdelete a file, even after you’ve emptied the trash, all you have to do is find its entry in the table of contents and erase the crossed-out mark, which basically tells it — Whoops, no, you can’t have that space. I’m going to keep the data after all. This is all those undelete programs do. They don’t work on the file itself, they work on the Table of Contents.
5. So that file is never erased?
Not really. What happens is the Table of Contents tells the computer that it can use that space to write new stuff down. So the next time you go to save a new document, that new document might take up the space where your old file was. Then, your old data is written over and it’s gone. That’s why all these undelete programs say that you should use them RIGHT AFTER you accidentally deleted a file. If you wait any more than a couple of days of regular use, chances are some document or system file will have come along, seen in the table of contents that that space can be written over, and boom it’s gone.
6. But let’s say that I am upgrading my computer and I want to wipe it completely clean.
You’ll need a different kind of program. They’re usually called Wipers — as in Wiping a hard disk clean. And they literally write over the space where those documents are with 0s. They basically rip out the pages and draw black marker ink all over them. When you wipe a file or a hard disk, that’s it. You can’t get the data back. Now there’s a theory out there that says if you write 0s over the data only one time, clever hackers can read the subtle magnetic signal UNDER the data and piece it back together again. This is why Government-Standard wiping has those 0s written seven or sometimes 35 times over. So I put that question to Bill Margeson. He’s CEO of CBL Data Recovery in Markham. They specialize in recovering data from hard disks. So I asked if his company could recover data if you only did ONE pass over the data.
CLIP_MAFFIN_CBL
“NO IT’S NOT POSSIBLE AT ALL. THERE’S A LOT OF FOLKLORE AND VOODOO AFOOT ABOUT THE ABILITY TO READ TRACE DATA, BUT THERE’S SIMPLY NOTHING THERE THAT CAN BE PUT BACK INTO ANYTHING INTELLIGIBLE.”
7. So when I decide to sell or ditch my computer, I just need to get a wiping program?
Yep, and CBL has a free one on its web site at cbltech.ca. Interesting, though, even though Bill says that one pass is all you need to obliterate the data, even HIS program will do multiple passes. He says it’s because the mythology around multiple wipes is so prevalent that government types won’t use a wiping program unless it can go seven or 35 times. Kind of like how pressing an elevator button multiple times makes it arrive faster.
Tragedies and Technology
Updated: This is the final version of the short package I produced on the topic. It will air Wednesday and Thursday mornings throughout Canada.
Download/listen to tragedy_and_technology.mp3
Here is the “q-line” (line of suggested questioning) for my technology column on CBC Radio One morning shows. I’ll be on the air with the morning show hosts in the following cities: Saint John, Moncton, Corner Brook, Quebec City, Windsor, Sudbury, Whitehorse, Cape Breton (Sydney), and Yellowknife. (Other cities will get a short documentary on the topic, which I’ll post here later today or tomorrow.)
As the mass shooting in the U.S. Monday unfolded, some students took to the Internet to check in with each other and to grieve. In times of chaos, it seems the Internet is becoming increasingly important for people to connect. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin has been monitoring those so-called “social media” web sites all this week and he joins me now.
1. What kind of web sites are we talking about here?
Well, they’re kind of a new class of sites — a class that didn’t really exist when other tragedies like Columbine or 9/11 happened. As you mentioned, they’re known as “social media” sites and there’s three general types. The first are sites that exist to help connect its users to old friends, network through their existing contacts, and so on. MySpace is popular for people who like music or are in their early teens… LinkedIn is a social media site for business-people to find new jobs or suppliers… and Facebook, which started as a site for University students, but has really expanded in the last couple of months.
That’s the first group of social media sites. The other are based not around people but around media. So Flickr is very popular for sharing images. YouTube, of course, for video, and so on.
And the third group are personal blogs — basically online journals where the students write about their lives.
2. When this tragedy unfolded, how were the students using these sites?
I found Facebook to be the busiest, and that’s probably because a lot of students already had accounts on there. Almost right away after the scope of the tragedy started becoming known on campus, one of the students set up a group on the site called “I’m Okay” and she invited any other students from the campus to Join the Group. Because on this particular site, anyone can look at a group and get a list of its members, you need only look at that list to see if your friend is okay.
Then within a couple of hours, rumours start leaking out about who was killed, because their friends can’t reach them and they’re not coming back to the dorm. So when you look at the blogs or Facebook or MySpace profiles of the dead students, you get a kind of sad chronology of concern. They start out by saying “Wow, David, were you near the shooting?” then a few hours later it’s “David, call us, we’re worried about you” and finally when it’s confirmed that they were a victim, most of these people continue to post on their page — still addressing them directly as if they were still alive, and it becomes a kind of online memorial.
3. Why do you think students flocked to web sites when this happened, as opposed to setting up on-campus meetings or calling each other.
Partially, it’s out of necessity. You have to remember that cell phone networks are designed for medium-load, wide-area use. That is to say a healthy number of people using their phones throughout an entire city. When an event like this happens, everyone tries to use their phones and the pattern shifts suddenly to veryhigh-load, small-area use. So — a HUGE number of people trying to use their phones within only a couple of kilometer radius. That area might indeed only be served by a couple of cell phone towers at the most. So the space on the cell phone network literally fills up and people can’t use their phones. We see this happen time and time again when big events occur.
But also it’s about the students themselves. Remember, these people have never lived in a world where home computers didn’t exist. They were 8 and 9 years old when the Internet started getting popular. And on top of that, this is a TECHNICAL college. Many of these students were studying computers and Internet development, so online social media is completely intertwined with their lives. Many of them probably didn’t even consider any other way to communicate — this was just the most natural way for them.
4. You mentioned media-based sites like videos and photos. Were people uploading photos that they shot on campus?
Well certainly they were. One of the video clips that’s being played over and over is a video taken by a student outside the building where shots were being fired. He shot it on his cell phone then uploaded it to CNN who got it on the air within minutes.
But something emerged in THIS tragedy that I hadn’t seen before — and that’s people replacing their online photos with an image of a black ribbon and the Virginia Tech logo over it. And one interesting phenomena of these newer sites is they employ a kind of loose categorization scheme known as tagging. So if you have a photo of, say, police running into a dorm building, when you upload it, you use a common tag which is a short word that identifies it like vtshooting. And when I searched for photos from the campus using the obvious tags, most of the images that came up weren’t from the campus at all — they were images of roses, of a teardrop, of a rainbow.. posted by others around the world as a kind of visual, almost artistic memorial.
5. Are sites like this helpful to journalists in covering a story of this magnitiude?
It can be. I mean, certainly once they get the information confirmed from authorities, they can track down web pages of the victims or the suspects. But especially in the U.S. where so many cable news outlets are competing with each other to get a scoop, they can get carried away and jump the gun. I want to play you a clip from Fox News. This is Geraldo Rivera who stumbled upon a Facebook profile of a young Asian students on campus.
IN: “Here’s another shot from that web page…”
RUNS: 0:00
OUT: “…killing all my girlfriends.”
Problem is, that wasn’t the shooter. That was just someone who matched the description of the shooter. Lucky for Geraldo, he covered up the poor student’s face and name before putting it on camera.
Review: New Photoshop and Dreamweaver
Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this review. Adobe provided me with a time-limited pre-release copy of their software, and gave me a tour of the product several weeks ago. I agreed to hold back information certain details of the product until its release date.
Adobe Photoshop CS3
All-in-all, this is a solid update. Adobe has given Photoshop a much-needed refresh to the user-interface. Toobars now float more intuitively, and non-active panels are easier to access. This may not sound like a huge deal, but certainly for power-users, reducing common commands from three-clicks to one-click makes a difference.
On Intel-based Macs, Photoshop runs much faster, thanks to the program now being a Universal binary. (Moving between PS and other apps also invokes a nice fade-in/fade-out — not a big deal, but just gentler on the eyes.)
Adobe is bundling both Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, and other apps into a new “web edition” suite. For the first time, web professionals can import native Photoshop and Illustrator files directly into Flash and Fireworks with full resolution.
Dreamweaver CS3
I’m more disappointed by the progression of Dreamweaver, which continues to feel like Adobe’s bastard child. There are still some silly UI problems. For instance, you can’t drag a file from your desktop into your site’s files list. You first have to move it into the sites folder, then copy it over. I understand the rationale — to maintain consistency between your local and remote files — but the program should do the heavy lifting for you in this case.
Other than adding Spry widgets for AJAX programming, Dreamweaver hasn’t changed that much.
Adobe did add a very smartemulation tool to show what web pages will look like on various mobile and handheld devices. The Device Central program knows what countries certain phones work in, etc.
Cross-Program
All programs now incorporate an updated version of Adobe Bridge. It’s a beautiful app which integrates all programs, Version Cute CS3, Acrobat Connect, and an expanded Adobe Stock Photos service.
So, should you get it?
If you’re on an Intel Mac, this is a no-brainer. Now that the programs are Universal Binary, they really fly, especially with 2 GB of memory or more. But overall, I’d consider this a Pro upgrade. That is, if you spend a lot of your time in Photoshop, it’s worth an upgrade. If you only tinker in it, probably stick with what you have.
Tech Column: WiMax — The Future of Wireless
Just when you think you’ve got your Internet connection at home figured out, along comes yet another technology. But this one promises more than just faster speeds. It might make traditional broadcasters obsolete. The CBC’s technology columnist Tod Maffin is here with the details.
Download/Listen to tech_wimax_web.mp3
NB: The on-air version of this piece has Michael Jackson’s “Bad” playing at the end; I couldn’t include it in this version because of rights so you get some other crappy song instead. Enjoy.
Review: Rogers’ Blackberry Pearl
Disclosure: This is a review of the Blackberry Pearl, distributed in Canada by Rogers. I was not compensated in any way for this review. Rogers loaned me a test unit for a couple of weeks; it has now been returned.
I’ve spent a few weeks in heavy testing with this handset and it is a great phone. It takes a while to get used to the two-letters-on-each-key scheme, but having a QWERTY keyboard is really handy.
Here are my review points.
AUDIO QUALITY
I’m impressed by the audio quality of Rogers’ network. I had no dropouts, and the clarity was strong in all areas I tested. It had enough range in the top end to make the sound nice and crisp.
OUTSIDE APPLICATIONS
This is a great phone for additional applications. The Gmail app works like a charm, if you don’t use the Blackberry’s outstanding email functionality. Other applications are easy to download and install and operate flawlessly.
INTEROPERABILITY
I had no problem importing my contacts via Bluetooth and even used this phone as a remote control on stage in front of 2000 people.
CAMERA
The camera is very sharp and includes a Flash. Sending the photo via email is quick and easy — a link exists directly from the camera application.
PHONE SPEED
This is the only knock I have against this handset. It’s not very speedy. Several times when I dialed a number, it “forgot” the first number. And every so often, it would lock up. I’d get a little hourglass icon spinning forever. It seemed to happen with the camera app and would only recover when I took the battery out.
BATTERY LIFE
Power consumption is excellent on this phone.
NICE TOUCHES
The Blackberry Pearl has a nice weather application — and its icon displays the current weather conditions in your area. So you just have to look at the screen to see what the weather is like. Or, uh, you could look out the window. 
All in all, this is a great handset. It sounds great on the Rogers network, the camera is easy to use, and it continues to provide great access to email. If they boost the speed a bit, this will be the perfect phone.
My latest tech column podcast: The secret behind ARPU
Have you seen those billboards for Bell — in huge letters, it says “Watch Spiderman on your cell phone!” As if we’ve all been craving that feature.
So I decided to find out how easy it was to find Spiderman and watch it on a movie-compatible Bell phone. Along the way, I explain why the cell phone industry seems intent on selling us more and more features, making our phones increasingly complicated.
Some geeky production notes. I wrote this script on a flight to Regina, recorded the interview that night in the Regina casino, voiced it in my hotel room the next day, and mixed it on the flight (and cab ride; see photo to the right) home.
All done using Audacity, the free open-source desktop audio workstation.
Download/Listen to arpu.mp3
Regina hotel (Delta Hotel Regina)
I’ve decided I’m going to start up my reviews site again, but integrate it with this blog. So let’s start with where I am right now, the Delta Hotel Regina.
I’m not thrilled.
The room is nice, but…
- They had my checkout date wrong, and it looks like I’m on my own for the last night now
- The Internet connection is flaky. It won’t access Gmail, which is my primary email service.
- The in-room heater doesn’t work. At first, it didn’t do anything. Now (after a visit from the bellman), it makes a humming noise but barely adds any heat to the room.
- The hotel doesn’t have any space heaters available.
- The clock radio was unplugged.
- The room service dinner was (a) lukewarm, and (b) not as described in the menu. It claimed to be a chicken “stuffed with crab, shrimp, scallops, and cheddar cheese.” Instead it was a small breast with a few tidbits of crab and shrimp tossed into the sauce as an afterthought. The “garlic mashed potatoes” had no garlic in them.
On the bright side, it’s a nice room with a duvet on the bed.
<sigh>
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