New method of detection and wiping of sensitive information

Abstract

One of the biggest problems in sensitive data wiping is to determine if a file is sensitive or not. Data wiping applications have improved a lot, but they cannot determine by themselves if a file is sensitive. The method we propose tries to determine if a file is sensitive by using a pre-defined set of rules initially specified by the user. These rules can update themselves in time, by "learning" from data patterns in previous sensitive files. The hard drive is monitored continuously to detect new sensitive data. Also, our method replaces the standard delete function from Windows with a secure wiping algorithm (overwriting data several times with pre-defined passes), but only for files that are determined to be sensitive.

Methods of Isolation for Application Traces Using Virtual Machines and Shadow Copies

“…These rules are self-adaptable, in a way that they can improve themselves, taking into account patterns detected in other files securely erased by the user [20].…”