---
name: "sswap"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "secure-delete"
version: "3.1-12"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sswap"
---

# sswap(1)

secure swap wiper (secure\_deletion toolkit)

## NAME

sswap - secure swap wiper (secure\_deletion toolkit)

## SYNOPSIS

**sswap \[-f\] \[-l\] \[-l\] \[-v\] \[-z\] swapdevice**

## DESCRIPTION

*sswap* is designed to delete data which may lie still on your swapspace in a secure manner which can not be recovered by thieves, law enforcement or other threats. The wipe algorithm is based on the paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" presented at the 6th Usenix Security Symposium by Peter Gutmann, one of the leading civilian cryptographers.

The *secure data deletion* process of sswap goes like this:

- **\***

  1 pass with 0xff

- **\***

  5 random passes. /dev/urandom is used for a secure RNG if available.

- **\***

  27 passes with special values defined by Peter Gutmann.

- **\***

  5 random passes. /dev/urandom is used for a secure RNG if available.

## COMMANDLINE OPTIONS

- **-f**

  fast (and insecure mode): no /dev/urandom, no synchronize mode.

- **-l**

  lessens the security. Only two passes are written: one mode with 0xff and a final mode with random values.

- **-l**

  \-l for a second time lessons the security even more: only one pass with random values is written.

- **-v**

  verbose mode

- **-z**

  wipes the last write with zeros instead of random data

## BEWARE

- **swapoff**

  unmount your swapspace before using this tool! Otherwise your system might crash!

- **BETA!**

  *sswap* is still beta. It was only tested on Linux but on this system it performed it's work all of the time.

## BUGS

No bugs. There was never a bug in the secure\_deletion package (in contrast to my other tools, whew, good luck ;-) Send me any that you find.  Patches are nice too :)

## AUTHOR

van Hauser / THC *\<vh@thc.org\>*

## DISTRIBUTION

The newest version of the *secure\_deletion package* can be obtained from  *http://www.thc.org*

*sswap* and the *secure\_deletion package* is (C) 1997-2003 by van Hauser / THC (vh@thc.org)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; Version 2.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

## SEE ALSO

*srm* (1), *sfill* (1), *sdmem* (1)