Script to self destruct a linux box...

[Ed Wilts]

On Fri, Mar 26, 2004 at 04:04:01PM -0800, jg wrote:
> I want to have a Linux (RH 9) sytstem automatically
> rendered usless at a  certain date or time.

Define useless.  How recoverable do you want the system to be?  There
are few quick attacks you can do if you don't care if the system can be
recovered.  You can wipe the partition table, you can wipe /boot, you
can scribble over random parts.  

I've had to do quick wipes of different systems at the end of disaster
recovery tests.  Our security people were satisfied with a quick init of
the disk.  Sure, give the disk to somebody who knows what they're doing,
and they'll get the data back, but if the system will end up with
somebody somewhat trustworthy, it's good enough.

Simply deleting files will make them recoverable with a simple undelete.
You may want to copy random garbage to the drive after deleting files to
get them overwritten.

There are DOS applications that will write erasure patterns all over the
drive.  You could boot into something like that - heck, you've got
access to grub, so boot into a standalone erase program, and poof, data
gone.  Test it on your personal production system first :-)

-- 
Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA
mailto:ewilts at ewilts.org
Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program