Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: "J. Roeleveld" <joost@××××××××.org>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Demise of Truecrypt - surprised I haven't seen t his discussed here yet?
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:41:12
Message-Id: 4689987.1Rn3xYxY0i@andromeda
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Demise of Truecrypt - surprised I haven't seen t his discussed here yet? by Rich Freeman
1 On Monday, June 02, 2014 07:28:53 AM Rich Freeman wrote:
2 > On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 6:56 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@××××××××××.uk> wrote:
3 > > On Mon, 02 Jun 2014 05:27:44 -0500, Dale wrote:
4 > >> The second option does sound what I am looking for. Basically, if I log
5 > >> out but leave my computer on, leave home, some crook/NSA type breaks in
6 > >> and tries to access something or steals my whole puter, they would just
7 > >> get garbage for data. That seems to fit the second option best.
8 > >
9 > > If they steal your computer they will have to power it off, unless you
10 > > are kind enough to leave them a large enough UPS to steal along with it,
11 > > so any encryption will be equally effective.
12 >
13 > If you're worried about casual thieves then just about any kind of
14 > properly-implemented encryption will stop them.
15 >
16 > If you're worried about a government official specifically tasked with
17 > retrieving your computer, my understanding is that it is SOP these
18 > days to retrieve your computer without powering it off for just this
19 > reason. They won't use your UPS to do it. Typically they remove the
20 > plug just far enough to expose the prongs, slide in a connector that
21 > connects it to a UPS, and then they pull it out the rest of the way
22 > now powered by the UPS.
23 >
24 > See something like:
25 > http://www.cru-inc.com/products/wiebetech/hotplug_field_kit/
26
27 Hmm... Those are nice, but can be easily built yourself with an off-the-shelf
28 UPS.
29
30 > Presumably somebody who is determined will also have the means to
31 > retrieve the contents of RAM once they seize your computer. Besides
32 > directlly accessing the memory bus I think most motherboards are not
33 > designed to be secure against attacks from PCI/firewire/etc.
34
35 Hmm... add something to auto-shutdown the computer when a hotplug event occurs
36 on any of the internal ports and remove support for unused ports from the
37 kernel.
38
39 I wonder how they'd keep a computer from initiating a shutdown procedure or
40 causing a kernel panic when it looses (wireless) connection to another device
41 that is unlikely to be moved when powered up?
42
43 --
44 Joost

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