Testing Data Sanitization Practices of Retired Drives with The Digital Forensics Data Recovery Project

There are several empirical studies that have focused on the analysis of retired digital media on the secondary market which has had historical impact on not only the technology community, but the business community alike. This research will introduce the Digital Forensics Recovery (DFDR) study, where five key industries-government, education, businesses, electronic recycle centers, and individual home users were targeted to test effectiveness of data sanitization practices with used media. While previous work analyzed any device, the DFDR study aims to analyze on media in which due diligence has been taken to ensure data privacy

Identity Theft and Used Gaming Consoles: Recovering Personal Information from Xbox 360 Hard Drives

Traditionally, when individuals wanted online access they connected their PCs to the internet. Now, non-traditional devices such as cell phones, smart phones, and gaming consoles serve as common means of online access. Gaming consoles, just like PCs need proper sanitization processes to help fight identity theft. Individuals understand you cannot simply throw away a computer that has your personal data on it without some sort of sanitization process; gaming consoles are no different. Simply returning your console back to “factory state” will not do the trick, you need to take things one step further.In this research paper the authors aim to bring awareness to the gaming public, researchers and practitioners that improperly discarding used consoles without proper sanitization practices can inadvertently release personal data which can result in identity theft. The researchers will demonstrate through a case study how easy it is to steal an identity through a discarded Xbox. Finally, the researchers will demonstrate how gamers can sanitize their game consoles when upgrading their systems to ensure their identity is not at risk when the used device is retired