Secure Erasing of USB Flash Drives

[John Gray]

... and why this is extremely difficult.

[StuartR]

That's why I use TrueCrypt on my USB flash drives.

[Argus]

... and why this is extremely difficult.

I read that one the other day, as well as the one below, and the comments; perhaps the best way to iron it out, so to speak, would be by investing in a blast furnace and putting the used ones into the recycle process.

If one has known a little about all this with wear levelling etc. on flash drives, this has been nagging since day one. As it is now, and this research shows, encryption is the best solution, at least at the moment. And if the data is that important, that one cares about how to deal with the drive when it's not used anymore, then it should be encrypted from the start.

Here is another comment, at Sophos' IT Security blog (much the same with the link to the Usenix FAST 11 conference paper), but also a small chart.
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02 ... ely-erase/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Argus]

A follow-up post at Sophos' IT Security blog about SSDs and the secure erasure of SSDs: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02 ... issioning/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;