David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com> writes:

> On Feb 27, 9:29 am, phil-news-nos...@ipal.net wrote:
>
>> I'd also recommend wiping the data with random bits instead of zeros.
>
> Why? To protect against possible even more bizarre, even more
> hypothetical attacks?

Even if there were residual patterns left after overwriting with
zeros, which I doubt, it wouldn't matter. When powered up again, the
memory will read as zeros, assuming it is done before it randomises
again. If this wasn't the case, DRAM wouldn't work at all. Besides,
such traces of previous data would fade much quicker, and the time
window for this attack is small enough as it is.

> This attack is so bizarre, it's barely worth doing much of anything
> about.

Yes, being abducted by aliens seems more likely.

--
Måns Rullgård
mans@mansr.com