Recovery from magnetic storage Re: s/forget passphrase for/cause permanent destruction of/

[Matthew Astley]

On Tue, Aug 20, 2002 at 10:28:53PM +0000, Adrian Midgley wrote:
> On Tuesday 20 August 2002 11:24, you wrote:
> 
> > > So perhaps one should avoid having sensitive data written to the
> > > disk at all in clear.
> > >
> > > Hence an entirely legitimate reasons for having encrypted the data,
> >
> > Ah, interesting approach.
> >
> > However if you have data which doesn't need encrypting per se, it's
> > hard to imagine why you would need to securely erase the disk rather
> > than just destroy it. Are we talking about recycling of obselete but
> > still useful desktop machines?

Hmm, not sure why I wrote that now. I think I meant that it seems like
overkill to encrypt data for the sole purpose of making it easier to
erase from the magnetic storage at a later point. Tunnel vision on my
part.

> Would you like your medical records to be encrypted?

Well that's a funny one.

If the encryption keeps my doctor out just at the moment I become
critically ill, then no. 9-)

If the encryption will keep out those who have to right to access the
records, then yes. As far as I can make out from comments here, that
isn't actually the purpose of the encryption. 8-(

I think on the whole my answer would be "not if the encryption alone
placates those who would otherwise campaign over who has access to
medical records". Of course I'm very badly informed on the matter.


I hope that answers your rhetorical question adequately.

Matthew  #8-)