As shown in this research, there are many ways to hide or destroy data. This report is not intended to be exhaustive, and more tools and methods are constantly being developed (look at abstracts from Black Hat and SANS to get a feel for this). It is an ongoing struggle for security and forensics researchers, law enforcement, and national security experts to stay on top of these developments — as well as invent new tools and find ways to thwart them before the “bad guys” figure out how to use them.

For the rest of us, the question is how much trouble is securing a person’s files to a high degree worthwhile? The most private data most people keep relates to financial records and diaries, hardly national-security level information. The vast majority will never be a target, and so will never need to concern themselves with this information. Much more of a risk is a laptop stolen from a parked car or coffee shop, in which case whole-disc encryption (or an OS’s home directory encryption) and a good password is sufficient protection. Those thieves are only after the hardware for a quick buck anyway.

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