Secure delete with python

[Roy Smith]

Boris Genc <boris.genc at REMOVE_mindless_ME.com> wrote:

> Hi everybody.
> I was wandering is there a method or a function already implemented in
> python that supports secure deletion of data?
> 
> I'm interested in something which is able to securely wipe data (from
> single file to bunch of MB's), and that should run both on Linux and
> Windows.

When people talk about secure deletion of data, they generally mean 
things like over-writing the physical disk blocks that used to hold the 
file with random data.  The details of how you do this is extremely 
operating system dependent (and probably also on what kind of file 
system, hardware, etc).  Not to mention that the definition of "secure" 
will vary with the type of data, and who's doing it (i.e. what I 
consider secure probably doesn't pass muster with the military).