The verb "to shred" as it appears in the English language dictionary means "To cut or tear into
fragments, pieces or particles.
96Crypt file shredder, complies with the Standard DoD 5220.22-M, destroys and removes all the
file's content, cuts the file size to zero, changes the file date to a random value (not the shredding's
date), then removes all its clusters to avoid leaving any defragmented useless clusters on your disk.
Besides, shredding large files (> 5Mb) with 96Crypt is 10 times faster than any other file shredder.
The shredded files with 96Crypt cannot even be identified with the most sophisticated file recovery
tools. In fact, the shredded file goes through the following process:
· All file's addressable locations are repeatedly overwritten with random and specified pattern data.
· The file name is replaced with an Hexadecimal 80 character string created with a PRNG.
· All file's related dates (creation, last access and last writes) are set to random value, not the
shredding's date.
· The file size is cut down to 0 byte.
· The file's clusters are entirely erased.
96Crypt does not leave any junk data on your disk drive after repeatedly overwriting the targeted file
with random and/or specified pattern data.
See for yourself the results of a file shredded
with 96Crypt
compared to the same file shredded
with another
popular n°1
shredder or a
popular n°2
shredder.
Needless to say, recovering a file shredded with 96Crypt is beyond technical feasibility.
Although the sanitization scheme (D) used by 96Crypt fully complies with the DoD 5220.22-M Standard,
however, the US Department of Defense Standard 5220.22-M precises in its Clearing and Sanitization
recommendations that the ONLY approved method (M) for sanitizing media that contains top secret
information, consists of PHYSICALLY Destroy: Disintegrate, Incinerate, Pulverize, Mechanically Shred,
or Melt the media!
File shredding with 96Crypt can be launched either by starting the program normally
and selecting the "File Shredder" page, or by using the file's Mouse-Right-Click plug-in.
1. Mouse-Right-Click Selection
With a Mouse-Right-Click on any file or icon in your Windows Explorer or
on your Desktop you may select the
96Crypt - Shred Files
function
found under the "Send To" section, as shown in the following figure.
96Crypt will open and it will auto-position on the "File Shredder" page.
The Right-Clicked selected file will be listed and its current status
(ex. Genuine File, EnCrypted File, EnCrypted/Compressed...) will be displayed.
When the Mouse-right-click mode is selected, the "Prompt Individually Before Shredding Every File"
option is auto-selected by default. Pressing the shred & Destroy button will proceed and complete
this task. The file will be totally shredded and destroyed.
2. Launching 96Crypt normally
Start 96Crypt, select the "File Shredder" page, you might select as well the
"Prompt Individually Before Shredding Every File" option. When the Shred & Destroy
button is clicked, a large file selection dialog window will open as shown below.
Select and add the files you wish to shred/destroy to the job list. In the example below
13 files were added to the job list as indicated.
A dialog window opens and prompts the user to confirm the action to be taken. Keep in mind, the
shredding action cannot be reversed. Note that the dialog window suggests a recommended "safe"
choice to guide the user in his selection.
Once all files are shredded, the view list displays the final status.
Note also that for the security of your data, when a file is being EnCrypted, 96Crypt shreds
the plaintext before writing to the disk the newly created ciphertext.
The only exception is when
the plaintext is originally placed on a read-only media like a CDROM/DVD, in this case 96Crypt
prompts the user to save the ciphertext on a different drive/location.