Re: [mtools] MTOOLS security question - Unused File Space from a file's EOF to end of physical block on disk

[David C Niemi]

Wow, it wouldn't be terribly hard to modify Mtools to zero unallocated 
data.  However, the thought of mixing classified and unclassified data in 
a FAT file system sounds quite frightening, especially if VFAT is involved 
and the file names themselves could be classified.

DCN

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006, Stone, Todd -Systems wrote:
> Our system contains both UNCLASSIFIED and CLASSIFIED data.  Our security 
> agency (AF-CERT in our case) have procedures for copying from a mixed 
> classification system to UNCLASSIFIED media.
>
> Files occupy full blocks and the concern is over contents of the unused 
> (slack) space between the files's EOF (End-of-File) marker and physical 
> end of the data block as occupied on disk.  This unused data could be 
> considered CLASSIFIED if contents aren't zeroed out.  Does or has anyone 
> modified MTOOLS to clear unallocated (slack) space?

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| David C Niemi  (Reston, VA, USA)  niemi at tuxers dot net |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
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