Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops

Post by aqme28 » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 2:27 AM UTC

digiown wrote: post #332

estimator7292 wrote: post #233

My Linux drives are all encrypted, and one of the wonderful features of this is that there is no entity or force on this planet that can decrypt them. What happens if I forget my keys? Same thing that happens if my computer gets struck by a meteor. New drive, new key, restore contents from backups. It's simple, secure, set-and-forget, and absolutely nobody but me and your favored deity have any idea what's on my driv…

It's a good start, but FDE alone is still fairly easy to compromise in many cases. If you ever type the password under a camera, it may be leaked. If the device ever leaves your possession and you don't have secure boot, your bootloader can be trivially altered to leak the password. Then there are keyloggers. And cold boot attacks can often be done if your system is running.

Post by betty_staples » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 2:42 AM UTC

klardotsh wrote: post #321

spockz wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. But I suppose you run Teams on a company provided/managed, or at least paid for by the company, device? Just don’t use that machine for anything private. Is anyone using their private devices for work? (Also there is teams for Linux and on the web, if that is not prevented by the policy of your org.)

In the startup world, BYOD is/was exceedingly common. All but two jobs of my career were happy to allow me to use my own Linux laptop and eschew whatever they were otherwise going to give me. Obviously enterprises aren’t commonly BYOD shops, but SMBs and startups certainly can be. … whether the people who would do such BYOD things are at all likely to be Windows users who care about this Bitlocker issue, is a differe…

Post by LtWorf » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 2:45 AM UTC

lll-o-lll wrote: post #454

klardotsh wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the startup world, BYOD is/was exceedingly common. All but two jobs of my career were happy to allow me to use my own Linux laptop and eschew whatever they were otherwise going to give me. Obviously enterprises aren’t commonly BYOD shops, but SMBs and startups certainly can be. … whether the people who would do such BYOD things are at all likely to be Windows users who care about this Bitlocker issue, is a differe…

I’ve been diving down the BYOD rabbit hole recently. At enterprise scale it’s not “hook in with your vpn, job done”, it’s got to be managed . Remote wipe on exit, prove the security settings, disk encryption, EDR. What this means for the user is your personal device is rather invasively managed. If you want Linux, your distro choice may be heavily restricted. What you can do with that personal device might be restric…

Post by LtWorf » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 2:50 AM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #247

ChromaticPanic wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uploading your encryption keys up to someone else's machine is not a sensible default

It generally is, because in the vast majority of cases users will not keep a local copy and will lose their data. Most (though not all) users are looking for encryption to protect their data from a thief who steals their laptop and who could extract their passwords, banking info, etc. Not from the government using a warrant in a criminal investigation. If you're one of the subset of people worried about the governmen…

Post by nandomrumber » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 3:04 AM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #459

josephg wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What laptops would you recommend? I didn’t realise framework laptops struggled with Linux?

Lenovo T and X series are excellent and cheap as dirt used. There is also System 76. Or you could get a MacBook and boot Linux on that. Some older ones work well, I hear.