The present invention is directed to a system and method for the secure and correct deletion of data files from a data storage that bypasses the file system of an operating system. A secure erase service receives a secure erase request from a system interceptor component, which has intercepted a system call from an application. The system call interceptor component communicates with the secure erase service via an interprocess communication module. The secure erase service receives the secure erase request from the interprocess communication module and communicates the secure erase request to a secure erase library. Using the file information contained in the secure erase request, the secure erase library queries the file system of the data storage device to determine the location of data blocks containing the to be deleted data. Once, the location of the data blocks has been determined, the secure erase library then instructs the device driver, via a virtual file system, to overwrite the data blocks storing the electronic file a predetermined number of times.