Nempnett Thrubwell

Q: Is trash always securely emptied in El Capitan?

There used to be a finder preferences option to enable/disable secure emptying trash, but it is no longer there.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 12:44 PM

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Q: Is trash always securely emptied in El Capitan?

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  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Oct 8, 2015 12:48 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
    Level 7 (21,098 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2015 12:48 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell

    Not anymore. Apple removed the Secure Emptry Trash menu items in El Capitan because it was not working correctly. There is no information as to if, or when this feature may be reinstated with future updates.

     

    In the interim, there is a secure remove (srm) utility that allows you to control the number and type of data overwrites on a per deleted file basis. If you are familiar with the Terminal, than review the srm (1) man page.

  • by Nempnett Thrubwell,

    Nempnett Thrubwell Nempnett Thrubwell Oct 8, 2015 12:51 PM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 12:51 PM in response to VikingOSX

    Thanks, I think that I'll stay clear of Terminal.

  • by Sparkleberry,Helpful

    Sparkleberry Sparkleberry Oct 8, 2015 1:01 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
    Level 4 (3,110 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 8, 2015 1:01 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
  • by Children's Author,

    Children's Author Children's Author Oct 13, 2015 8:26 AM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 13, 2015 8:26 AM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell

    The reasoning that Apple, Inc. gives for removing the “Secure Empty Trash” button in its El Capitan OS update is: 

     

    Description: An issue existed in guaranteeing secure deletion of Trash files on some systems, such as those with flash storage. This issue was addressed by removing the "Secure Empty Trash" option.

    CVE-ID

    CVE-2015-5901 : Apple

    Reference:: About the security content of OS X El Capitan - Apple Support

     

    That might sound logical to Apple, but to me that seems illogical. It is like Ford saying, “We could not guarantee that seatbelts would work properly in the Fusion, so we removed seatbelts from all of our vehicles.”

     

    Therefore, one must wonder if something else is at play here.

     

    Did Apply secretly comply with a government request to remove the “Secure Empty Trash” button from its operating system because it made it difficult to recover files from computers? If such is the case, then Apple’s breakthrough Super Bowl Mac ad of why 1984 won’t be like 1984, was just propaganda. Apple has made 1984 come true. If you have not read George Orwell’s book titled 1984, perhaps you should. Big brother IS watching…

  • by Children's Author,Helpful

    Children's Author Children's Author Oct 17, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Children's Author
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 17, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Children's Author

    In my opinion, a better solution would have been for Apple to write a code that adds the “Secure Empty Trash” feature, but also includes a friendly pop-up reminder that appears whenever flash storage devices are erased (emptied from the trash). Such a notice might say:

     

    Due to their design, Flash Storage Devices do not qualify for “Secure Deletion.”

     

    Personally, I would prefer to have some secure file deletion, especially on my Mac hard drive, as opposed to none.

  • by !cultOfApple,

    !cultOfApple !cultOfApple Oct 20, 2015 12:12 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 20, 2015 12:12 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell

    Here are 3 commands, any one of which you could run from Terminal - you could also create an alias for these...

    1. rm -rP /<path>
    2. srm -rfv -s /path (try the m and z switches for more options)
    3. diskutil secureErase freespace LEVEL /Volumes/<drive>


    "Secure Empty Trash" is gone as per Apple:


  • by annabelle,

    annabelle annabelle Nov 15, 2015 4:33 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell
    Level 3 (520 points)
    Apple Watch
    Nov 15, 2015 4:33 PM in response to Nempnett Thrubwell

    There is an app Permanent Eraser that does the job, it's free and has a contextual menu too

    You don't even need to put the file in the trash,

    just option-click  the file and choose ERASE

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Nov 15, 2015 6:35 PM in response to Children's Author
    Level 9 (50,379 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 15, 2015 6:35 PM in response to Children's Author

    Children&#39;s Author wrote:

     

    In my opinion, a better solution would have been for Apple to write a code that adds the “Secure Empty Trash” feature, but also includes a friendly pop-up reminder that appears whenever flash storage devices are erased (emptied from the trash). Such a notice might say:

     

    Due to their design, Flash Storage Devices do not qualify for “Secure Deletion.”

     

    Personally, I would prefer to have some secure file deletion, especially on my Mac hard drive, as opposed to none.

    Based on the wording of the document, it is unclear that it was reliable even on non-SSDs. If that is the case, they certainly couldn't have a feature called "Secure Empty Trash" if it wasn't actually "Secure."

    I guess they could just call it, "Secure Empty Trash, maybe."

     

    It is much more secure to encrypt the entire drive. Then, the "sensitive" files are secure even when you haven't deleted them, yet.