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Posted on 07/11/2011 10:39:22 AM PDT by Smogger
The Colorado prosecution of a woman accused of a mortgage scam will test whether the government can punish you for refusing to disclose your encryption passphrase. The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to order the defendant, Ramona Fricosu, to decrypt an encrypted laptop that police found in her bedroom during a raid of her home.
Because Fricosu has opposed the proposal, this could turn into a precedent-setting case. No U.S. appeals court appears to have ruled on whether such an order would be legal or not under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which broadly protects Americans' right to remain silent.
In a brief filed last Friday, Fricosu's Colorado Springs-based attorney, Philip Dubois, said defendants can't be constitutionally obligated to help the government interpret their files. "If agents execute a search warrant and find, say, a diary handwritten in code, could the target be compelled to decode, i.e., decrypt, the diary?"
...
"Decrypting the data on the laptop can be, in and of itself, a testimonial act--revealing control over a computer and the files on it," said EFF Senior staff attorney Marcia Hofmann. "Ordering the defendant to enter an encryption password puts her in the situation the Fifth Amendment was designed to prevent: having to choose between incriminating herself, lying under oath, or risking contempt of court."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com ...
dd (disk destroyer) will cause anyone a big headache if you have no idea what you are doing ...
Yes, you can get copies of several imaging programs, especially on Linux. DD will do the job nicely, as will dcfldd.
‘I forget the password. I guess we’re both screwed.’
Waterboarding will help you to memorize :-)
Excellent points!!! BTW here is the “password” that erases the flash memory.
dd = diskdump
$ sync && sync && sync && dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=4096 && sync;
So how could you even tell if you got everything or not?
My comment was limited to the point about making the encryption dependant upon the hardware and the feasibility of having the encryption software wipe the data if the wrong password is entered. There are ways around that restriction. I made no comment as to the difficulty of cracking the encryption without a password - that is still difficult without a dumb criminal or a lot of high-powered computing resources.
“Hey stupids at the DOJ: thanks for letting the world know the limitations of the NSA’s decryption capabilities.”
Actually, the NSA doesn’t like or cooperate with the DOJ very much. What the NSA does is not the domain of the DOJ. Just because the DOJ wants to prosecute someone for a crime doesn’t mean the NSA will risk exposure of a very sensitive military capability.
Password for what?
While I may not be able to decrypt the files, I can usually tell pretty quickly if someone has been using encryption software, even if the software is on a thumb drive and not on the computer itself. The software will leave traces in the registry, in the page file, in the master file table, etc. If you can find when the encryption software was invoked and then find the names of files accesses shortly afterward, you can often find the encrypted containers (especially true for TrueCrypt). That doesn't mean you can decrypt them - just that you can locate them and show that encryption software was used to protect them.
Password for what?
While I may not be able to decrypt the files, I can usually tell pretty quickly if someone has been using encryption software, even if the software is on a thumb drive and not on the computer itself. The software will leave traces in the registry, in the page file, in the master file table, etc. If you can find when the encryption software was invoked and then find the names of files accesses shortly afterward, you can often find the encrypted containers (especially true for TrueCrypt). That doesn't mean you can decrypt them - just that you can locate them and show that encryption software was used to protect them.
Absolutely true. The question was whether there was software available to the public to make a bit-for-bit image of a hard drive, and those were some applications that immediately came to mind because I use them quite often. But if you don't know what you are doing, you can hose things up quite spectacularly.
>>> “I use memory verses. These usually contain all the elements required for most pw’s... Works great for me, they are tough to crack, easy use and build my Bible memory skills.”
Gotta say that is one cool idea for a pswrd.
I want someone to come up with an O/S where everything is encrypted to the point it would be impossible to decrypt ANYTHING on the HD without the code.
You are correct
The first process performed when a PC or laptop is brought in for inspection is the drive is removed from the laptop and a Bit level copy is made along with checksums TWICE. So now you have three copies. The original, the master copy with checksums so you can verify its contents should the need arise in a court case and the one that you actually do the decryption work on.
Unfortunately this bypasses all all of the programs that would normally run as a self destruct that would have been loaded on the laptop or PC. You run the drive on a clean forensics system.
>>You gonna bring back the rack?
The Iron maiden?
Drawing and quartering?
Water boarding that is prohibited from being used on mortal enemies?<<
Phat chance Uncle Sam.... Never gonna happen.
.......:o)
There is a slow move away from the government being perceived as “us” and instead towards the government being perceived as “them”. That isn’t a healthy trendline in a democracy. This isn’t a left or right thing either. It’s the tendency of uncontrolled and unaccountable government officials wanting more power for themselves and less for the people. The right to avoid self incrimination is something that our legal system had always supported, but it is now being eroded.
Another example are the black boxes in new cars that we may own. We paid for them and they belong to us but they are often used by the legal system to convict the car owner.
I support EFF.
Not if the data on the two drives are quantum bit entangled.
Honestly I think this whole article is moot. If the DOJ had any balls at all (presently they do not), they would try and install a hardware keylogger in your keyboard and grab any passphrase they needed (previous DOJ I suspect would only be able to do this with a high profile target), rendering the whole encryption pointless. They could even do it remotely.
quantum bit entangled? WTF
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