Several Windows file-wiping utilities fail to completely wipe some files on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP that use NTFS file systems, security researcher Kurt Seifried has discovered. But computer forensic experts reckon the privacy implications of the advisory are limited, as standard packages, such as Word or Excel, do not make use of the secondary data streams - where file remnants might be left even after data has been securely deleted. In any case, wiping a disk entirely will destroy such data, as Chris Crute, a forensic investigator at security consultancy Information Risk Management, points out.
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