file-wipe

A npm module for securely wiping files off the file system completely so that it cannot be retrieved later with file retrieval programs.

Introduction

The method used of wiping the file from the hard drive can be found in Peter Gutmann's paper Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory

The file/s, before being deleted, is overwritten by a defined set of bytes, as specified in the above reference. This will make the file headers and file contents unrecognizeable through different kinds of magnetic hard drives.

Usage

Install with

npm install file-wipe --save

ES6

In your application:

import wipe from 'file-wipe';

wipe('file.exe')
.then((file) => {
	console.log("File %s completely erased!", file);
})
.catch(err => {
	throw err;
});

ES5

or if you prefer the classical use of callbacks:

var wipe = require('file-wipe');

wipe('file.exe', function(err, file) {
	if(err)
		throw err;
	console.log("File completely erased!");
});

File globbing is supported

wipe('./sensitive-data/*')
.then((files) => {
	console.log("Wiped files:");
	console.log(files);
});

Pass an options object

const options = {
	tap: (file) => {console.log("Wiped %s", file)}, //Provide a tap function
	unlink: false //If the file should be unlinked after it has been wiped. Defaults to true
}
wipe('./temp-files/*', options)
.then((files) => {
	console.log("Files wiped:");
	console.log(files);
})

##Documentation

wipe(files [, options, [, callback]])

Will run the callback or return a promise when all files specified have been wiped.

Parameters

files: string|array The files to be wiped. A string or an array of strings.

options: object (OPTIONAL)

options.unlink: boolean (OPTIONAL) If the files should be unlinked after wipe passes has been applied. Defaults to true

options.tap: function (OPTIONAL) A function to be called after each file has been wiped.

callback: function, (OPTIONAL) The callback to be executed when the file/s have been wiped.

Returns: Promise, A promise with an array of files wiped.

Contribution

Pull requests are welcome!

Disclaimer

Due to how Solid State Drives (SSD) store and retrieve data this method will not work on an SSD. Please see Reliably Erasing Data From Flash-Based Solid State Drives.

I cannot completely guarantee that any file will be completely wiped from the magnetic hard drive. The results may wary on different machines, but this method should make file retrieval, at least, more difficult.

License

MIT (See LICENSE.txt)

Author

Github @simonlovesyou

Twitter @simonjohansosn