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It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

theintercept.com

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Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#121

Post by gerdesj »

garaetjjte wrote: post #76
gerdesj wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are absolutely correct with your assessment. I recall Alan Cox (welsh bloke, big beard, Linux kernel hacker (well: simply hacker in general will do)) posting on G+ about someone booting enough Linux on a hard disc to get a prompt. No not the disc itself, off the firmware on the controller. You may also like to consider that nearly all modern server systems have an iLO/iDRAC or whatever that can do all sor…

http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=1

Thanks for that. Its always nice to read up on a really good hack or be reacquainted with one and this is a belter.

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#122

Post by georgebarnett »

mirimir wrote: post #117
georgebarnett wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the great thing about USB-C - If you epoxy the ports, you now can’t charge.. sigh

Maybe have multiple batteries, and use a dumb charger?

My MacBook has only one port and a sealed battery compartment, which is not helping :(

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#123

Post by justinjlynn »

If your security model relies exclusively on the integrity of information processing systems, it's going to fail. Failure is only a function of how much interest there is, and thus investment in, breaking that security. Therefore any decent security model will rely heavily on non-technological methodologies for preserving security compartmentation and protection of vital assets.

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#124

Post by mirimir »

georgebarnett wrote: post #122
mirimir wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe have multiple batteries, and use a dumb charger?

My MacBook has only one port and a sealed battery compartment, which is not helping :(

Damn. So is USB-C securable?

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#125

Post by mordant »

. . . so, you either leave your laptop at home (assuming you've a sufficient degree of certainty it won't be hacked there) or you keep it with you at all times, with all wireless technologies disabled.

With regards to my checked luggage - no electronics there - when traveling to/from/in the US, I always save those 'Inspected by TSA' placards, and place one prominently atop my clothes prior to closing and locking my bag.

Based on various physical telltales I utilize, the success rate of placing a used 'Inspected by TSA' placard in one's bag to deter searches is 100%, at least in my experience.

Since I started doing this, I haven't received any new 'Inspected by TSA' placards, either. So, that's another indicator of the technique's probable success rate.

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#129

Post by angry_octet »

benevol wrote: post #73
tripletao wrote: post #7

If you care about this, then put the laptop in a tamper-evident bag. Those are necessarily imperfect too; but there's work making tamper-evident seals to resist up to state-level attacks, since that's relevant in stuff like enforcement of nuclear weapons treaties. That succeeds to the extent that you can find a physical effect that's easy to create and measure, but hard to recreate deterministically. (In concept, dum…

> put the laptop in a tamper-evident bag Do you have URLs to products that are big enough for say 17'' laptops?

https://harcor.com.au/products/a3-keepsafe-gold-government-b...

Re: It’s Impossible to Prove Your Laptop Hasn’t Been Hacked

#130

Post by willvarfar »

tripletao wrote: post #109
willvarfar wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kind journalists at The Intercept are likely to be targeted by state actors, who might even be prepared to risk some zero days too?

I don't think he thought he was targeted, if he thought the hacker stickers would make a difference. But if I had an exploit like that and was targeting a security-conscious journalist, then (a) I'd be mystified when he checked his laptop, and probably unprepared to take advantage, and (b) I doubt I'd risk my >$1M exploit--even if I could hide it perfectly in some firmware, it still has to communicate out to the worl…

I thinking of the David Miranda case, for example. If you talk to the Intercept at all in any way prior to going through customs I think you can expect to be delayed while they take a closer look at you. Its not really paranoia if they probably are out to get you ;)
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