Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!ncar!gatech!bloom-beacon!oberon!cit-vax!ucla-cs!sdcrdcf!csun!sef
From: sef@csun.UUCP (Sean Fagan)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Delete vs. rm
Message-ID: <1155@csun.UUCP>
Date: 25 Mar 88 16:42:39 GMT
References: <36568QAA@PSUVM> <2413@bsu-cs.UUCP> <2903@enea.se> <5683@swan.ulowell.edu>
Reply-To: sef@csun.UUCP (Sean Fagan)
Organization: CSU, Northridge Sun Computer
Lines: 26

In article <5683@swan.ulowell.edu> arosen@hawk.ulowell.edu (MFHorn) writes:
>>  "rm" does, as far I know, just unlink the file, there is no /ERASE option 
>>with which you can clean the disk space. 
>
>This is a problem, and until someone takes unix security _very_ seriously,
>it will probably be ignored.

No it is not a problem!!!!!  Unix spends free cycles doing a couple of
things, one of these being zero-ing out free disk blocks.  Whenever you
request disk blocks, if they have not been zeroed out, Unix will do this for
you, *AUTOMATICALLY*.  Got that?  You don't have to request that it be
specifically deleted.  While more secure, it does have some problems (such
as you cannot recover a file you just deleted, since it is possibly already
dead and buried by then).

>Andy Rosen           | arosen@hawk.ulowell.edu | "I got this guitar and I
>ULowell, Box #3031   | ulowell!arosen          |  learned how to make it
>Lowell, Ma 01854     |                         |  talk" -Thunder Road
>                   RD in '88 - The way it should be


-- 

Sean Fagan                   uucp:   {ihnp4,hplabs,psivax}!csun!sef
CSUN Computer Center         BITNET: 1GTLSEF@CALSTATE
Northridge, CA 91330         (818) 885-2790