And That's How I Didn't Lose an Eye: Emergency Data Destruction

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Presented at ShmooCon 2012 by

Skunkworks

My presentation will showcase my success with The Shmoo Group\'s data destruction challenge from their DEFCON 19 talk "And That\'s How I Lost an Eye". I\'ll discuss my prototypical 3U-sized box of hard drive obliteration, capable of rendering multiple hard drives as forensically useful as a wet noodle within seconds minus the collateral damage. My presentation will delve into the intricacies of generating and containing high temperature plasma, and how I put it together into one crazy prototype. I will discuss the unfortunate practical limitations of my initial plasma generating device, such as power consumption and required electrode laying in an ISO-5 cleanroom; and why several microwave ovens were sacrificed in the name of science to subject several hard drive platters to temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. I\'ll then take a look at why, when properly used, thermite isn\'t actually such an awful idea; and the real-world challenges with making 4,500F slag play nicely with your datacenter through special insulation techniques and exotic endothermic tricks. I will explain my (as of late November unfinished, but highly promising) work with making a compact, fully insulated, cheap, and safe multi-stage thermite-based hard drive incinerator.