21–30 of 74 posts
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?
This might work once, for somebody. Then law enforcement would understand what it is for, what it does, and cut the lanyard/string instead of removing the usb stick before apprehending the device.
Less conspicuous, and no strings to cut.
If there are any Apple product developers listening, I'll definitely buy the next iPhone if part of its feature set is that as long as the phone is on and in my pocket, I never have to type in a password to unlock my computer(s). It would be even better if that feature was extended to developers so any developer could use the fact that my phone is in close proximity to my computer as grounds for successful authentication.
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.
There's a program for Linux that does the same, but using your phone (or other Bluetooth device) called blueproximity. It had a slight tendency for false positives, though - sometimes it locked the screen even with the device less than a meter away.
It's unwise to use your phone for this purpose, because a phone and laptop might both be swiped if you're not holding on to both. This has happened to folks at cafes or on mass transit in the Bay Area.
> If the the computer loses connection to the device, it auto-locks. If there are any Apple product developers listening, I'll definitely buy the next iPhone if part of its feature set is that as long as the phone is on and in my pocket, I never have to type in a password to unlock my computer(s). It would be even better if that feature was extended to developers so any developer could use the fact that my phone is i…
A 'vigilance control' device would work as intended in these cases - a message is issued to the user (possibly via covert means), and failure to respond locks the device:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch#Vigilance_c...
It turns out that this has already been made before. https://github.com/defuse/swatd
Let's assume that /dev/sdb1 is the LUKS volume. First backup the LUKS header: "cryptsetup -v luksHeaderBackup --header-backup-file=/tmp/LUKS-header /dev/sdb1". Then encrypt (gpg -c) the LUKS-header, and anonymously stash a few copies online. This is the weak point. You must remember where at least one of them is, and also remember the passphrase.
When sensors fail, swatd runs "head -c 1052672 /dev/urandom > /dev/sdb1; sync; shutdown -P now".
To recover, you would just boot into initramfs, restore the LUKS header, and reboot.
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).
How about a lanyard that has a magnetic connector (like Apple charging ports). So it just a small amount of force to disconnect, but easy to stick back together if you forget it was there when you got up to visit the rest room. Another thought, what about a little coin-sized watch battery device that does bluetooth low-energy. Press a button it locks your computer (or triple click wipes something, etc).
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.