A dead man's switch for your computer?

#1

Post by mvip » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 9:04 PM UTC

A dead man's switch for your computer?
blog.viktorpetersson.com

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#2

Post by falcolas » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:14 AM UTC

Tails, a "Live CD" operating system which relies on Tor for all communication, does something like this at the OS level: If the media you are running Tails from is removed, the OS immediately writes over itself in RAM and shuts the system down.

Still capable of being worked around, but looking into that may help identify how to best implement a dead man's switch.

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#3

Post by mayoff » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:31 AM UTC

I thought about this too when I read about how the FBI seized Ulbricht's laptop. I decided that a simple string isn't sufficient. You want the loop to be either a conductor or fiber optic, so that the system can detect when the cord is cut (not just when a USB device is pulled out).

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#4

Post by kator » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:36 AM UTC

I built a program that automatically locks my OSX machine when I get far enough away from it. It uses iBeacon ranging and I have the beacon in my pocket. Debated on sharing with others but I never managed to clean it up enough to be proud of sharing it.

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#5

Post by rndmize » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:37 AM UTC

I believe there was a post just yesterday for a piece of software that would lock and unlock your machine based on proximity to your phone through bluetooth.

Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8917992

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#6

Post by robotkilla » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:57 AM UTC

A bit different but I've considered releasing all of the stuff i own, certain accounts etc. into the public (or into the hands of some trustee) after i die + some specific period of time. I would need to automate everything i have and that task is daunting for something I wouldn't even get to enjoy.

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#7

Post by thaumaturgy » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 12:59 AM UTC

rndmize wrote: post #5

I believe there was a post just yesterday for a piece of software that would lock and unlock your machine based on proximity to your phone through bluetooth. Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8917992

Only MacOS/iPhone though.

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#8

Post by Retra » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 1:00 AM UTC

I was thinking of a voice-activated command that locks the UI while it nukes everything. But while this is happening, it keeps a safe image of the desktop up with basic mouse functionality, so the user doesn't know it is doing anything for a little while.

Of course, I have no use for such a thing, so I would never waste my time implementing it...

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#9

Post by thaumaturgy » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 1:01 AM UTC

What you want is an RFID keyfob/detector. There used to be a writeup on a homebrew version of this at http://hackaday.com/2013/09/07/hidden-rfid-reader-locks-work... -- but the link that article references is rotten now. A sufficiently motivated person should be able to dig up instructions somewhere.

A few years ago there were companies that did this for most operating systems, and fairly inexpensively too, but I'm having trouble finding them now.

Re: A dead man's switch for your computer?

#10

Post by ipsin » Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 1:14 AM UTC

Independent of, and in addition to, other locking schemes, how about an active process that monitors for either high acceleration (the laptop being moved) or noise above a certain threshhold?