More than a couple of people have asked me about computer security in the last couple of days, especially after the Tallbloke raid incident.
I’m offering a simple security solution for those that want to protect their files: a USB flash drive with built in hardware security that works on USB 3.0 and USB2.0 ports
See all the details here, buy one if you want a neat new gadget for Xmas (it sure beats getting socks or a tie).
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I’m glad I’m a nobody. 🙂
Whats up with the advertising?
I’m getting paranoid as well. The Climate gestapo may be monitering us.
A note, however, I believe law enforcement warrants compel people to divulge keys/keycodes. You would essentially be in obstruction if you used hardware encryption to keep information away from the law.
BUT… IANAL.
Or use an encrypted filesystem with linux. Without the passphrase, you can’t even tell the drive is formatted. Even the filesystem metadata is encrypted. They can’t even tell that there are any files on it at all, let alone what is in them.
will not work with the judges and the police
Does this USB Flash Drive also protect the Drives of your Desktop? Please advise.
No just the Ian data
Well that beats tying a can a soup in one’s socks and beating oneself with it.
check this out if you want 256 bit military grade encryption that also protects from physical access too. https://www.ironkey.com/ I want the 32GB version.
This gadget is also quite nice:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crypteks/crypteks-usbtm-encrypted-and-lockable-usb-solution
The dubious statements claimed by the drive are as follows:
“no software exists that can be cracked”
This is not true if the attacker can get a key logger onto your computer before you use this drive.
“blocks 100% of auto-run based malware attacks”
While I can’t declare this false on principle, this seems much more likely advertising exaggeration than true.
“Comes with secure erase software to allow full deletion of files you move from hard disk to the Dataguardian drive.”
This software cannot be relied on to achieve successful full deletion of files. Especially because of temporary files created by viewers and editors and such. Only full drive encryption can be relied on to maintain security. This is especially the case when using flash drives, where the flash chips never overwrite a file but just leave the old file and write the new version at a different location. You can only delete any file on a flash drive by overwriting the entire flash drive. Even then, traces or entire files could remain in the weak blocks taken out of service by the drive controller. Some drives have a secure erase command to erase the entire drive, including the bad blocks, but it can be hard to run, especially if your computer bios locks your hard drive settings at boot, as many do.
d55mayD55may says:
December 16, 2011 at 5:05 pm
> Whats up with the advertising?
New products from http://www.weathershop.com/ warrant a post – others have. Note the right side nav bar images for “Monitor your own climate” amongst the books and the Dataloggers (I have three) at the bottom right.
Both of those go to Anthony’s weathershop too.
Note – these memory sticks are not from weathershop. Note that there’s plenty of other advertising here too.
In the UK and other countries you can be compelled to disclose passwords, or end up in jail for contempt until you disclose the password (guilt until proven innocent). Similar things have been tried in the US when people were crossing borders.
Things like TOR might help, although liberal application of thermite on short notice may be the only real solution. I can’t find the article but the cops in Russia or a near by country triggered a remote wipe while testing a car key to see what car it opened, of course this trick won’t work more than a few times 🙂
Truecrypt will protect your complete PC on the fly whether Windows/Linux/Mac and is free. You can have an inner encrypted partition (file) that they can’t even see even if you are forced to divulge the key
So far in the U.S. there is no law or regulation that can compel someone to divulge their password(s). Of course, with Obama’s attorney general on the rampage against civil liberties it’s only a matter of time.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law
re post by: Jeremy says: December 16, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Perhaps – but I would think in the USA that the 5th amendment protects people from having to disclose passwords/keycodes, wouldn’t it? Otherwise, you’d essentially be testifying against yourself…. It would be interesting to know if any case law exists on this issue.
By all means, protect your data. And, by all means, protect your right to free discourse.
But, when it comes to climate information, we’ve nothing to hide. If some prominent “skeptic” does have something to hide, pertinent to the climate discussion, I’d advise offering it up. It would cause great harm to the skeptic side if a skeptic was found to have done something nefarious regarding the climate discussion and hid it from the law. I don’t think anyone will care about the music pirated or the porn on your PC. Some have stated the internets were invented for porn! 😉 If you’re sharing that stuff with a bit torrent or something of that nature, stop it.
There are plenty of fights to fight regarding individual rights and privacy. But, towards the climate discussion we should take care not to be seen as hypocrites.
Rational Debate says:
December 16, 2011 at 5:57 pm
re post by: Jeremy says: December 16, 2011 at 5:09 pm
I believe law enforcement warrants compel people to divulge keys/keycodes. You would essentially be in obstruction if you used hardware encryption to keep information away from the law.
Perhaps – but I would think in the USA that the 5th amendment protects people from having to disclose passwords/keycodes, wouldn’t it? Otherwise, you’d essentially be testifying against yourself…. It would be interesting to know if any case law exists on this issue.
=======================================================
In the U.S., one is compelled to blow in a breathalyzer if suspected of being drunk. If refused, guilt is assumed. The 5th amendment, like most of the constitution, is deemed only words to circumvent by our judges and lawmakers.
When the Feds want you, NOTHING gets in their way. They’ve never been slowed down by nanotrivia like laws and constitutions.
When the Feds aren’t interested in you, it may feel like the laws are protecting your “rights”, but in fact the only thing that’s protecting you is lack of interest.
I think, I hope, some really good computer “geeks ?”, are so far ahead of the curve on this thing ……
I mean it is a dream project, ain’t it ??
I found ‘liberte linux’ .
It gives privacy to your documents and anonimous surfing. Free for all, the bad guys and the good ones. Install in common usb stick and it leaves no trace on disk drives not even in the ram when unpluged.
re post by: PuterMan says: December 16, 2011 at 5:53 pm
PuterMan (or anyone else knowledgeable about this stuff!), I’m ignorant about this stuff but interested – so a question for you please? I’m assuming that if one encrypts a drive, they can still work on it quite normally just as if it’s not encrypted, once the password is entered, correct? Thanks in advance for response(s)!
The way I understand the law and caselaw in the UK (and in the US if one is crossing a border) one cold be arrested for not revealing the password to an emcrypted file on a computer storage medium that is under your control.
So, for example, if I have a file on my drives labelled something like “all.f7”, I am obliged to reveal the password, and can suffer the consequences of I do not reveal it or claim that I do not know/remember it.
IANAL
FREE – Full Disk Encryption or just encrypted volume (on ordinary cheep USB stick)
TrueCrypt – Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption
Software for Windows 7 Vista XP, Mac OS X and Linux !!!!
http://www.truecrypt.org/
How to Set Up TrueCrypt Disk Encryption, Part 1 – eSecurity Planet
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/features/article.php/3865291/How-to-Set-Up-TrueCrypt-Disk-Encryption-Part-1.htm
Sorry officer/m’lud I can’t remember the passphrase due to the trauma , shock & etc.
If they ask for your password say you forgot it. They can’t prosecute you for forgetting your password and you can’t give it to them if you forgot it and they can’t prove you did not forget it. Use Truecrypt http://www.truecrypt.org/ an open source utility which can encrypt your entire hard disk or create mountable files. it can even create hidden volumes so that it does not even appear to have encrypted files at all.
Anthony: Please tell your readers about Truecrypt. It is excellent. I have not affiliation with them, i just like their software.