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Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
131–140 of 694 posts
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#132The problems of centralization. Some economic sectors are centralized by nature, IT is not.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Any power users who prefer their own key management should follow the steps to enable Bitlocker without uploading keys to a connected Microsoft account. Once the feature exists, it's much easier to use it by accident. A finger slip, a bug in a Windows update, or even a cosmic ray flipping the "do not upload" bit in memory, could all lead to the key being accidentally uploaded. And it's a silent failure: the securit…
>A finger slip, a bug in a Windows update, or even a cosmic ray flipping the "do not upload" bit in memory, could all lead to the key being accidentally uploaded. This is absurd, because it's basically a generic argument about any sort of feature that vaguely reduces privacy. Sorry guys, we can't have automated backups in windows (even opt in!), because if the feature exists, a random bitflip can cause everything to…
What part of "We can't have nice things" do you not understand?
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#134FYI BitLocker is on by default in Windows 11. The defaults will also upload the BitLocker key to a Microsoft Account if available. This is why the FBI can compel Microsoft to provide the keys. It's possible, perhaps even likely, that the suspect didn't even know they had an encrypted laptop. Journalists love the "Microsoft gave " framing because it makes Microsoft sound like they're handing these out because they lik…
That would be all well and good if any of this was communicated to the user.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Any power users who prefer their own key management should follow the steps to enable Bitlocker without uploading keys to a connected Microsoft account. Once the feature exists, it's much easier to use it by accident. A finger slip, a bug in a Windows update, or even a cosmic ray flipping the "do not upload" bit in memory, could all lead to the key being accidentally uploaded. And it's a silent failure: the securit…
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I can't believe it took this long.
We have mandatory identification for all kinds of things that are illegal to purchase or engage in under a certain age. Nobody wants to prosecute 12 year old kids for lying when the clicked the "I am at least 13 years old" checkbox when registering an account. The only alternative is to do what we do with R-rated movies, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, risky physical activities (i.e. bungee jumping liability waiver) etc... we put the onus of verifying identification on the suppliers.
I've always imagined this was inevitable.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#136It's interesting how many comments these days are like, "well of course". Back in the day hackernews had some fire and resistance. Too many tech workers decided to rollover for the government and that's why we are in this mess now. This isn't an argument about law, it's about designing secure systems. And lazy engineers build lazy key escrow the government can exploit.
I actually understood that as in “of course . . . because Microsoft”
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
>A finger slip, a bug in a Windows update, or even a cosmic ray flipping the "do not upload" bit in memory, could all lead to the key being accidentally uploaded. This is absurd, because it's basically a generic argument about any sort of feature that vaguely reduces privacy. Sorry guys, we can't have automated backups in windows (even opt in!), because if the feature exists, a random bitflip can cause everything to…
What part of "We can't have nice things" do you not understand?
The part where you're asking me about the phrase when it's not been used anywhere in this thread prior to your comment.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
If users are so paranoid that they worry about a cosmic ray bit flipping their computer into betraying them, they're probably not using a Microsoft account at all with their Windows PC.
If your security requirements are such that you need to worry about legally-issued search warrants, you should not connect your computer to the internet. Especially if it's running Windows.
In the modern political environment, everyone should be worried about that.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given enough computers, anything will happen. Apparently enough bit flips happen in domains (or their DNS resolution) that registering domains one bit away from the most popular ones (e.g. something like gnogle.com for google.com) might be worth it for bad actors. There was a story a few years ago, but I can't find it right now; perhaps someone will link it.
A very old game speedrun -- of the era that speedruns weren't really a "thing" like they are today -- apparently greatly benefited from a hardware bit flip, and it was only recently discovered. Can't find an explanatory video though :(
The Tick Tock Clock upwarp in Super Mario 64. All evidence that exists of it happening is a video recording. The most similar recording was generated by flipping a single bit in Mario's Y position, compared to other possibilities that were tested, such as warping Mario up to the closest ceiling directly above him.
Re: Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops
#140FYI BitLocker is on by default in Windows 11. The defaults will also upload the BitLocker key to a Microsoft Account if available. This is why the FBI can compel Microsoft to provide the keys. It's possible, perhaps even likely, that the suspect didn't even know they had an encrypted laptop. Journalists love the "Microsoft gave " framing because it makes Microsoft sound like they're handing these out because they lik…
The "reasonable default" is to force the user to actually make the choice, probably after forcing the user to prove they understand the implications.
I don't think there's a good answer here.
Users absolutely 100% will lose their password and recovery key and not understand that even if the bytes are on a desk physically next to you, they are gone. Gone baby gone.
In university, I helped a friend set up encryption on a drive w/ his work after a pen drive with work on it was stolen. He insisted he would not lose the password. We went through the discussion of "this is real encryption. If you lose the password, you may as well have wiped the files. It is not in any way recoverable. I need you to understand this."
6 weeks is all it took him.