Moving out - your last login to a dedicated server...

su root, rm -rf /?

[dmorison]

I am sure that any reputable dedicated server hosting company would perform a reasonably secure hard drive wipe of the hard disks from your dedicated server; but what other actions would you recommend taking before leaving?

The meta subject of this post shows an extreme example. Obviously I would make sure that all database content was removed; and user accounts and all virtual hosting directories deleted; but would you be inclined to take any further actions?

Consider that the server may have held many thousands of customer contact details (including email addresses); and we all know that when files are deleted it is only the directory entries that are removed.

What would you recommend doing on your last login?

[jim_w]

From my experience if you delete the directories where the information was, upload some really big bin files, re-create the directory, upload another big bin file into the re-created directory, and delete all, the pointers in the allocation table get confused. While it is impossible to wipe it completely without writing to each sector several times, this keeps most from just running a program to undelete it.

[Dreamquick]

If I wanted to make you really paranoid I'd also remind you that if they are a good hosting setup they'd be running backups too...

As for the "really clean" question - don't "secure undelete" utilities/compile-able source exist for your hosting platform? Surely something like this would provide you with the most efficient method of leaving the on-disk data in an unrecoverable state?

- Tony

[dmorison]

If I wanted to make you really paranoid I'd also remind you that if they are a good hosting setup they'd be running backups too...

They offer backup as an additional service at extra cost. I'll investigate secure wipe utils for Linux - it's only a "bog standard" Redhat 7.2 box.

[bakedjake]

It's usually not unreasonable for a customer to ask for the hard drive. It might cost you $200, but it might be very valuable to you, too.