How Can We Permanently Delete Sensitive Files in Ubuntu Linux ?

[Conrad]

When you delete a file, the data are not destroyed your hard drive. They can easily be recovered with the right tools. To delete sensitive data you can use the Shred of Ubuntu that allows you to write random data several times on the files are deleted to make sure that they will never be restored. To use it easily, you can add to the menu that appears after right clicking on a file.

1. Open a Terminal window by clicking on the Applications menu, click Accessories then click Terminal.
   
   
   
2. Enter the command sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions. Press Enter. Enter your password and click OK.
   
   
   
3. Once the package installed, close the Terminal window.
   
   
4. Click the System menu, then click on System Preferences actions Nautilus.
   
   
   
5. Click the Add button.
   
   
   
6. Enter the Delete command in the final wording.
   
   
   
7. Then gtk-dialog-warning icon in the field.
   
   
   
8. In the Path field, enter the command shred.
   
   
   
9. In the Settings field, enter the command-f-u-v-z% M.
   
   
   
10. Open the tab Conditions.
    
    
    
11. Select both and check the box Appears if selection contains multiple files or folders.
    
    
    
12. Finally, click the OK button and then click Close.
    
    
    
13. Open a Terminal window and enter the command nautilus-q. Confirm and enter the command to restart the nautilus file manager.
    
    
    
14. Now when you click the right mouse button on a file or folder in the file browser, you can use the delete command from the menu that appears to remove it safely.

[Itronix]

You may also be interested to know you can remove non-empty (or empty) folders with

rm -r FOLDERNAME

Careful, though, because it won't ask to confirm first. Don't accidentally erase your /home folder, for example. For confirmation use:


rm -r -i FOLDERNAME

[XDRoX]

You can also use Shred Commands
Shred is a shell command that allows you to securely erase any files. It overwrites the specified file(s) repeatedly, in order to make it harder for even very expensive hardware probing to recover the data.

Shred is included in many Linux distributions, thus you can use it immediately, without any further installation.

To shred a file,
shred -f -v -z -u file.txt

where
-f: change permissions to allow writing if necessary
-v: verbose, to display the progress
-z: add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding
-u: truncate and remove file after overwriting

[gracie]

Originally Posted by Conrad

When you delete a file, the data are not destroyed your hard drive. They can easily be recovered with the right tools. To delete sensitive data you can use the Shred of Ubuntu that allows you to write random data several times on the files are deleted to make sure that they will never be restored. To use it easily, you can add to the menu that appears after right clicking on a file.

1. Open a Terminal window by clicking on the Applications menu, click Accessories then click Terminal.
   
   
   
2. Enter the command sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions. Press Enter. Enter your password and click OK.
   
   
   
3. Once the package installed, close the Terminal window.
   
   
4. Click the System menu, then click on System Preferences actions Nautilus.
   
   
   
5. Click the Add button.
   
   
   
6. Enter the Delete command in the final wording.
   
   
   
7. Then gtk-dialog-warning icon in the field.
   
   
   
8. In the Path field, enter the command shred.
   
   
   
9. In the Settings field, enter the command-f-u-v-z% M.
   
   
   
10. Open the tab Conditions.
    
    
    
11. Select both and check the box Appears if selection contains multiple files or folders.
    
    
    
12. Finally, click the OK button and then click Close.
    
    
    
13. Open a Terminal window and enter the command nautilus-q. Confirm and enter the command to restart the nautilus file manager.
    
    
    
14. Now when you click the right mouse button on a file or folder in the file browser, you can use the delete command from the menu that appears to remove it safely.

i got stuck with this bit - Enter the Delete command in the final wording.

[ChrisUlrich]

To delete a file or folder perform the following steps:

• Select the file or folder that you want to delete.
• Choose Edit->Delete. Alternatively, right-click on the file or folder, then choose Delete

also try this


rm <filename> to remove files
apt-get remove <package name> to uninstall packages