So I learned that if a MicroSD card gets snapped in half, its unrecoverable.
Okay, so suppose you were in war, and enemy soldiers were about to raid you. You just snap the cards in half and the data is un-recoverable, right?
So I learned that if a MicroSD card gets snapped in half, its unrecoverable.
Okay, so suppose you were in war, and enemy soldiers were about to raid you. You just snap the cards in half and the data is un-recoverable, right?
As long as the silicon got snapped and not just the softer plastic around the silicon.
If it’s actually important data that a nation state would want, most of the data could still be read off with an electron microscope.
So what you’re saying is that, its recoverable, just not by the average data recovery company.
Yes
Your best bet would be to shred the data multiple times (for example with the shred command) and then break the card physically. But shredding takes time so I guess that’s not very applicable to your case.
If you have a lighter, you also can try to melt the SD card’s insides. That should be impossible to recover.
In any case, you should keep it encrypted all the time and only decrypt it on the fly. For example with LUKS2.
I was going to say burn it too.
And if you really want to burn it good look into getting/making thermite.
This does not appear to be correct.
That’s a consumer data recovery company. They aren’t going to use an electron microscope like a nation state, university, or dedicated emulation hacker.
https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/how-to-read-from-an-eeprom/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312551555_Reverse_engineering_Flash_EEPROM_memories_using_Scanning_Electron_Microscopy
https://benjamin.computer/posts/2018-04-05-rom-reading.html
The first two links that you posted don’t appear to cover electron microscopy at all. The last appears to show a potential method of attack–which is noted in the link that I posted–but does not seem to show that it’s actually been successfully implemented. (“Using SEM operator-free acquisition and standard image processing technique we demonstrate the possible [emphasis added] automating of such technique over a full memory. […] The technique is a first step [emphasis added] for reverse engineering secure embedded systems.”)
This article is focused on reading them electrically.
I too have heard you can read flash storage with electron microscopes.
At that point chewing on it might be your best bet
Are your teeth able to do significant damage? You can of course dent the plastic shell, but the inside is protected by harder things.
The silicon die could easily chip a tooth as well, the stuff is insanely hard.