Idiots who say "Durr encrypt your hardrive lol" [defandant ordered to decrypt HDD]

[Michael Scott]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/24/tech/w...top/index.html

They'll eventually make you decrypt it. Encrypting your hard drive is not the cure-all solution that some of you think it is. Oh well you can still run a magnet over it

[Ghost Buster]

Magnets are old news. Everyone who isn't totally retarded has at least 7 pounds of C4 rigged to their computer. Punch in the wrong code trying to open the garage and BOMB. That's the only way to roll baby.

[is all mememememe with me]

[STD]

That's one isolated case in the U.S. Either way it's better than nothing.

If you're small fry, most of the time they don't even bother to order it decrypted.

Hell, a lot of the time they don't even realise the disk is encrypted, computers seized get sent off, a month later they finally get around to sticking the hard drive into an enclosure, and their technicians just see gibberish instead of realising that it's encrypted and boom you win.

[PirateJoe]

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

Right? I'm not a lawyer but I can't imagine the crime of disobeying the order to decrypt your hard drive would be any worse than whatever incriminating evidence it is you've gone to such lengths to hide.

[STD]

Originally Posted by PirateJoe

Right? I'm not a lawyer but I can't imagine the crime of disobeying the order to decrypt your hard drive would be any worse than whatever incriminating evidence it is you've gone to such lengths to hide.

Over here if you violated a court order to decrypt a drive you're probably looking at years and years in prison, if you're originally charged with something semi-serious.

[Nightshade]

My thought is yeah they're might be something or not but why should I decrypt my hard drive so that prosecution can use whatever there is on there against me. It is the State's burden to prove guilt. I'll have to be all sorts of stupid to make it easier for them, especially if the judge says that whatever is found will be used against me.

[StonedQC]

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

Exactly.

What if you "don't remember" your passkey? What can they do about that?

[The Cheshire Cat]

I'd like to have a wipe code in this encryption software. Have another passkey that would actually wipe and re-encrypt the drive if entered in. "Oh write your passkey down" "lolwatchthis". Then sit back and watch them freak out on you.

[Kwinnie Bogan]

Also create a maze of hidden folders and false volumes. You can also hide all you documents by left clicking and going 'open as...' and opening as a different file type, say .mp3. All you need to do to use that file is re-convert it.

Hide & encrypt over the top of this.

[L33tz]

uhhh...... no.

contempt or several felonies? what do I choose?

[L33tz]

Originally Posted by The Cheshire Cat

I'd like to have a wipe code in this encryption software. Have another passkey that would actually wipe and re-encrypt the drive if entered in. "Oh write your passkey down" "lolwatchthis". Then sit back and watch them freak out on you.

Should be possible, but the problem is that the wipe would take too long.

[L33tz]

Originally Posted by The Cheshire Cat

I'd like to have a wipe code in this encryption software. Have another passkey that would actually wipe and re-encrypt the drive if entered in. "Oh write your passkey down" "lolwatchthis". Then sit back and watch them freak out on you.

A better option is the hidden partition option in True Crypt where a different password opens a different partition.

Have one completely innocent partition with nothing on it.

[is all mememememe with me]

does anyone know about this. would it work if i made an electromagnet with some coiled wire and had it by my laptop and then if needed just switch it on and slip the hard drive inside. how much would that wipe? would it be the whole drive or just partial? i can easily slide the hard drive out of my laptop so it would take a few seconds for me. that's running from a 240v socket btw.

[is all mememememe with me]

Originally Posted by L33tz

A better option is the hidden partition option in True Crypt where a different password opens a different partition.

Have one completely innocent partition with nothing on it.

would they not see there were two partitions there tho?

[L33tz]

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

would they not see there were two partitions there tho?

well not really, unless you have the super FBI after you they are probably too stupid.

[kayx]

pwnt

[zuperxtreme]

Hidden volumes ftw.

[I Kill Null Airtime]

Originally Posted by StonedQC

Exactly.

What if you "don't remember" your passkey? What can they do about that?

Exactly what I was thinking. I forget my passwords all the time.

And I didn't read the article, but I'm pretty sure I know the case it was talking about, and wouldn't that violate her rights? Like 'cause that shit would be self incrimination. I wouldn't do it for shit.

[kayx]

"Forgetting" your password would probably still get you a contemt charge.

They had a warrant, not much that could be done there. I do believe it's still (in the US) a violation of the Constitution to require you to provide passwords/decrypt during a random search (at a border etc).

[I Kill Null Airtime]

Originally Posted by kayx

"Forgetting" your password would probably still get you a contemt charge.

They had a warrant, not much that could be done there. I do believe it's still (in the US) a violation of the Constitution to require you to provide passwords/decrypt during a random search (at a border etc).

Yeah but what if I legitimately forgot my password?

[The Methematician]

any non retard'd have ceased to use hdd to store anything important long ago.

[iMagiNation]

Originally Posted by L33tz

A better option is the hidden partition option in True Crypt where a different password opens a different partition.

Have one completely innocent partition with nothing on it.

lol why would you have a completely innocent, encrypted partition?

make sure you have SOMETHING on there, nothing that would put you in jail time but something that you wouldn't necessarily want other people finding - personal documents, embarrassing pictures, budgets or research or who knows what man. just don't leave it blank that's kind of dumb.

[Painzstake]

Originally Posted by STD

That's one isolated case in the U.S. Either way it's better than nothing.

If you're small fry, most of the time they don't even bother to order it decrypted.

Hell, a lot of the time they don't even realise the disk is encrypted, computers seized get sent off, a month later they finally get around to sticking the hard drive into an enclosure, and their technicians just see gibberish instead of realising that it's encrypted and boom you win.

It's called precedent, no matter how small you are by law they have a reason to be able to access your HDD.

Also if you need to hide your shit get an iron key
https://www.ironkey.com/hardware-encryption
If you need anything more than that and you really need to hide your shit you need to make a proper investment into something serious.

Also I'm not 100% on Truecrypt but for MS encryption there is a master code that will decrypt your drive that the government has. I suspect there would be something similar with Truecrypt and most if not all encryption programs. I could find the source on this but eh, I found it ages ago when I was trying to decrypt a drive I'd lost the key to >.<

[STD]

Originally Posted by Kwinnie Bogan

Also create a maze of hidden folders and false volumes. You can also hide all you documents by left clicking and going 'open as...' and opening as a different file type, say .mp3. All you need to do to use that file is re-convert it.

It's really really easy to see through this, most operatings systems can sort through directories by file size/type/etc.

Originally Posted by L33tz

A better option is the hidden partition option in True Crypt where a different password opens a different partition.

This is good.

Originally Posted by is all mememememe with me

does anyone know about this. would it work if i made an electromagnet with some coiled wire and had it by my laptop and then if needed just switch it on and slip the hard drive inside. how much would that wipe? would it be the whole drive or just partial? i can easily slide the hard drive out of my laptop so it would take a few seconds for me. that's running from a 240v socket btw.

I wouldn't really bet on it, at least with a weak magnet, weak magnets (like the handheld ones) are less effective at destroying magnetic media than you'd expect.

Originally Posted by zuperxtreme

Hidden volumes ftw.

This.

Originally Posted by StonedQC

What if you "don't remember" your passkey? What can they do about that?

I wouldn't want to rely on that, although if they seize a computer and then don't ask for the password for 6 months, it's actually pretty likely that you'd have forgotten it.

Originally Posted by The Methematician

any non retard'd have ceased to use hdd to store anything important long ago.

we live in 2012 now kiddo. There's big money in cybercrime.

Originally Posted by iMagiNation

lol why would you have a completely innocent, encrypted partition?

make sure you have SOMETHING on there, nothing that would put you in jail time but something that you wouldn't necessarily want other people finding - personal documents, embarrassing pictures, budgets or research or who knows what man. just don't leave it blank that's kind of dumb.

this x9000

Originally Posted by Painzstake

It's called precedent, no matter how small you are by law they have a reason to be able to access your HDD.

Mostly true depending on where you are, but that doesn't mean that they will bother, or even realise it's encrypted.

but for MS encryption there is a master code that will decrypt your drive that the government has.[/quote]
Source? Paranoia and "you can't prove otherwise!" doesn't count. I doubt it anyway, but it's possible, I'd much rather trust Truecrypt either way.

I suspect there would be something similar with Truecrypt and most if not all encryption programs. I could find the source on this but eh,

If there were truly a back door and there was a legit, solid source on the internet, it'd be well known now.

I found it ages ago when I was trying to decrypt a drive I'd lost the key to >.<

You probably found spyware.

[L33tz]

Originally Posted by Painzstake

It's called precedent, no matter how small you are by law they have a reason to be able to access your HDD.

Also if you need to hide your shit get an iron key
https://www.ironkey.com/hardware-encryption
If you need anything more than that and you really need to hide your shit you need to make a proper investment into something serious.

Also I'm not 100% on Truecrypt but for MS encryption there is a master code that will decrypt your drive that the government has. I suspect there would be something similar with Truecrypt and most if not all encryption programs. I could find the source on this but eh, I found it ages ago when I was trying to decrypt a drive I'd lost the key to >.<

for PHP probably.

Trucrypt as i understand it makes it's own hash and shit when you move the mouse around.

[Mutant Funk Drink]

Originally Posted by Painzstake

It's called precedent, no matter how small you are by law they have a reason to be able to access your HDD.

Also if you need to hide your shit get an iron key
https://www.ironkey.com/hardware-encryption
If you need anything more than that and you really need to hide your shit you need to make a proper investment into something serious.

Also I'm not 100% on Truecrypt but for MS encryption there is a master code that will decrypt your drive that the government has. I suspect there would be something similar with Truecrypt and most if not all encryption programs. I could find the source on this but eh, I found it ages ago when I was trying to decrypt a drive I'd lost the key to >.<

Seeing as Truecrypt is open source, I'd think someone would have discovered a backdoor by now. Still, apparently there was a backdoor in OpenBSD.

Probably the best way to encrypt a drive would be to use two separate but identical drives; one with the encrypted bytes and one with the random keystream to decrypt each and every byte on the other drive. The bytes from the keystream are simply XOR'd with the bytes on the encrypted drive to encrypt/decrypt the plain bytes, that way neither drive holds any information about each other. If the cops come, quickly remove the keystream drive and if possible, wreck it. If the keystream drive isn't recovered by the pigs, then it will be mathematically impossible to decrypt the drive with the files.

I don't know if such a method has ever been implemented, and there are two forseeable flaws. One is that it would probably slow down a system, and the other is if the keystream isn't truly random.

[Painzstake]

Originally Posted by STD

You probably found spyware.

I was refering to the page not the actual code. You had to go through a bunch of bureaucracy talking to MS... which I couldn't exactly do or pay a lot for software to do it.

Originally Posted by Mutant Funk Drink

Seeing as Truecrypt is open source, I'd think someone would have discovered a backdoor by now. Still, apparently there was a backdoor in OpenBSD.

Probably the best way to encrypt a drive would be to use two separate but identical drives; one with the encrypted bytes and one with the random keystream to decrypt each and every byte on the other drive. The bytes from the keystream are simply XOR'd with the bytes on the encrypted drive to encrypt/decrypt the plain bytes, that way neither drive holds any information about each other. If the cops come, quickly remove the keystream drive and if possible, wreck it. If the keystream drive isn't recovered by the pigs, then it will be mathematically impossible to decrypt the drive with the files.

I don't know if such a method has ever been implemented, and there are two forseeable flaws. One is that it would probably slow down a system, and the other is if the keystream isn't truly random.

If I was paranoid and actually had something to hide, I'd stuff the encryption all together. Just set a 1" CD sized thermite charge over your HDD(s) (daisy chain if needed) setting it up to ignite by doing something on the computer would be awesome... Then again hooking it up to a burner and thus giving remote capabilities would probably be the best idea...

[Mutant Funk Drink]

Originally Posted by Painzstake

I was refering to the page not the actual code. You had to go through a bunch of bureaucracy talking to MS... which I couldn't exactly do or pay a lot for software to do it.



If I was paranoid and actually had something to hide, I'd stuff the encryption all together. Just set a 1" CD sized thermite charge over your HDD(s) (daisy chain if needed) setting it up to ignite by doing something on the computer would be awesome... Then again hooking it up to a burner and thus giving remote capabilities would probably be the best idea...

Unless they get to your HDD while you're not home. Probably best to do both.

I remember reading about an even better method than the thermite where if the feds are at your door, you can stick a syringe full of acid through a rubber skin into your hard drive, which would quickly melt the platters. But yeah, thermite would probably do just fine.

[i am somebody]

http://www.totalsecureshredding.com/...ive-shredding/

[Jerk.]

Noobs.

http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=plausible-deniability