161–170 of 339 posts
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21935359 I vaguely remember there being special hard drives with an "acid release" tab for rapid physical destruction. The military being a prime consumer. For laptops, I'm thinking a Thermite kill switch would be effective.
Say I'm an investigative journalist, gathering information about some bad guy embezzling all politicians that matter in a small country and doing all kinds of criminal stuff, including murders. I'm careful. I'm using a laptop that has this kill switch. I only keep my work on this laptop, it's so sensitive. The bad guy gets a whiff I'm digging around him. He sends armed thugs to my lair. They enter, so I pop the kill…
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> There are devices that can exfiltrate information from what I understand almost every operating system through USB. If that is true, then it is a vulnerability. You should file bug reports.
How will you prevent a USB device to present itself as both a keyboard and mass storage and then type commands that copy data?
For more safety: any plugged usb device should lock your screen so that a password is required before it can be used.
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> There are devices that can exfiltrate information from what I understand almost every operating system through USB. If that is true, then it is a vulnerability. You should file bug reports.
How will you prevent a USB device to present itself as both a keyboard and mass storage and then type commands that copy data?
BusKill can trigger your laptop to lock, shutdown, or self-destruct if it's physically separated from you. I understand lock and shutdown but self-destruct? Really? Your laptop/data is one bump away from destroying itself?
If you've already planned for the possibility of self-destruct, a laptop can be a very transient device. Maybe the only important thing on the laptop is your bitcoin wallet key, but you also have a physical copy stashed in a lockbox somewhere. Maybe you're only using the laptop for its browser, and you've memorized all the passwords you need to enter.
Someone snatching the laptop might be doing so to grab the one keyphrase that you logged in with. The actual device is unimportant to you, then.
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Aren't they already soldered in place in modern laptops?
Many laptops but not all laptops. I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable. Drives me crazy because then you end up with more RAM but less performance, so have to choose which hit is worse.
nah, that applies to many mid to high range laptops as well, eg. 14" thinkpads has had 1 soldered 1 removable dimm for years now.
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> If done properly The man was running a multi-million dollar drug marketplace in a public library.
What was the logic behind that? So he couldn’t be traced back to his house?
A public library is even worse for that purpose, because of security cameras and witnesses.
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> There are devices that can exfiltrate information from what I understand almost every operating system through USB. If that is true, then it is a vulnerability. You should file bug reports.
How will you prevent a USB device to present itself as both a keyboard and mass storage and then type commands that copy data?
Might have protected Ross Ulbricht, but he’s an edge case. Anyone had their laptop yanked away while using it?
Actually we know it wouldn't. The agents arresting him did in such a way that they prevented him from touching his laptop (by creating a diversion), because they were feared that such a protection might exist.
But that's literally the scenario this physical-separation killswitch was designed for.
He wouldn't have had to touch his laptop to trigger this. Quite the opposite.
Good to have if you run a dark net marketplace or a political disident ring from public libraries. An additional refinement is to autolock the device if a certain personal key combo (ex. Shit - vol up - vol down) is not pressed every few minutes in response to an audible click. If not unlocked in a minute or so with a complex password, the device halts to a disk encrypted state and unpowered ram, minimizing the windo…
Exactly. You need something not for when your laptop is removed from you , but when you are removed from your laptop. Also, if you are being targeted this hard you need to have something for when you are left in front of your laptop and a gun is put to your head. Or the attackers threaten the welfare of your family.
Yeah, this wouldn't have saved the admin of Alphabay, a now defunct darknet market. The FBI staged a car crash outside his house so when he'd come out to see what was going on they could arrest him and likely get to his laptop while it was unlocked. Then again, he really shouldn't have left his computer unlocked.