My 2010 MacBook pro acquired this feature about 3 years ago...
BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
171–180 of 339 posts
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
My old job had wipe after 3 (or maybe it was 5) bad pins within N minutes as the required security setting for company phones. The thing I learnt from it is that wiping your phone actually isn't that big a deal and if you've set it up right you can pretty quickly be back up and running.
I'm getting closer and closer to this reality... iphones are basically there, with icloud backup. Have been trying to get less attached to any OS installs, and be fast at building up from a fresh install. Seems hard to even trust your own desktop after a while.
Is this convenience worth sending unencrypted backups of your data to Apple?
Do they allow truly offline backup and restore?
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#173Good 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…
Wouldn't it make sense to remove the battery on your laptop entirely? With a modified magsafe-like power cord any attempt to grab the machine hard-kills the system and RAM begins degrading immediately. Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker long enough to prevent freezing the RAM with compressed air to try and dump RAM via an exploit kit.
I think the idea is that you might only have about a second to kill the device. Yes, you can throw your computer in a bathtub of saltwater or whatever but that's not really the point.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> 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.
You must be talking about a different device, because the one shown on this site only triggers if you carelessly move the laptop.
It has no remote part, it doesn't matter how far the user is.
If you're thinking about attaching the trigger to your hand with a lanyard, the agents could easily hold your hand in place, cut the lanyard, ...
I don't understand why people always assume the FBI is brain-dead and could not use countermeasures against devices such as this if they become wide spread.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
In theory, I agree. But it is somewhat akin to saying - why use strong encryption since a three letter agency can just brute force your device. If you're in that deep, maybe it won't help. But for the average reporter in a hostile zone, keeping the local police from snooping on their machine would be preferential.
We actually agree completely. This thing may be useful, and certainly something to think about if you live or travel to places where electronic devices are often snatched and, like you said, prevents casual snooping since the local police WILL have to escalate to violence. I just don't think it's going to prevent a Silk Road incident and could make it worse for the suspect.
I disagree. I this this sounds a little too much like a TV show like 24.
The idea that you could completely immobilize someone at a public library so rapidly and without their awareness that they could not even move their arm 20 cm or so during a struggle seems ludicrous to me. Particularly as the kind of person who would buy this device would be setting themselves up with their back to the wall to prevent captures from behind.
I am fairly strong and have wrestled and grappled for over a decade, and I would not put my faith in an operation that required me (even with another agent) to completely immobilize even a weak person enough that I could guarantee they could not trigger this.
This takes a flick of a finger to trigger, or moving your arm a small distance away from the laptop.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
You must be talking about a different device, because the one shown on this site only triggers if you carelessly move the laptop. It has no remote part, it doesn't matter how far the user is. If you're thinking about attaching the trigger to your hand with a lanyard, the agents could easily hold your hand in place, cut the lanyard, ... I don't understand why people always assume the FBI is brain-dead and could not us…
You must have missed part of the description where they said the kill switch should be attached to the user's body.
If the user is attached to the switch and moves more than 50 cm or so from their laptop, the switch is triggered.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm getting closer and closer to this reality... iphones are basically there, with icloud backup. Have been trying to get less attached to any OS installs, and be fast at building up from a fresh install. Seems hard to even trust your own desktop after a while.
Is this convenience worth sending unencrypted backups of your data to Apple? Do they allow truly offline backup and restore?
For most people, yeah it's worth it. Afaik, yeah they do allow fully offline backup/restore, you don't need to use iCloud for that.
I switched away to an Android, so this isn't something I'm taking advantage of personally.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
We actually agree completely. This thing may be useful, and certainly something to think about if you live or travel to places where electronic devices are often snatched and, like you said, prevents casual snooping since the local police WILL have to escalate to violence. I just don't think it's going to prevent a Silk Road incident and could make it worse for the suspect.
I disagree. I this this sounds a little too much like a TV show like 24. The idea that you could completely immobilize someone at a public library so rapidly and without their awareness that they could not even move their arm 20 cm or so during a struggle seems ludicrous to me. Particularly as the kind of person who would buy this device would be setting themselves up with their back to the wall to prevent captures f…
> The idea that you could completely immobilize someone at a public library so rapidly and without their awareness that they could not even move their arm 20 cm or so during a struggle seems ludicrous to me.
Well, they did — and without even touching him.
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> You need something not for when your laptop is removed from you, but when you are removed from your laptop. 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 unloc…
> Alphabay
Related video is all I could find about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXrXD1M6kXk
Re: BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reminds me of a coworker who had their iPhone set to "wipe after 10 bad pins". Took about 2 days before their 5 year old happily typed the wrong pin 10 times and wiped it.
My old job had wipe after 3 (or maybe it was 5) bad pins within N minutes as the required security setting for company phones. The thing I learnt from it is that wiping your phone actually isn't that big a deal and if you've set it up right you can pretty quickly be back up and running.
The stress I had on 3rd attempt just to discover it is actually 5 attempts... Kind of helps being more conscious about having backup of everything regularly