Kill Switch for encrypted data? Safety first.

wsduvall · 04-01-2009, 08:18 AM

Thermite doesn't just create fire, it burns at such a high temperature your hard drive would become a molten mess. However this is considered a booby trap, so you could get sued by whoever sets it off.

socceroos · 04-01-2009, 04:56 PM

Put it this way, before degaussing can work effectively, you have to remove all the casing around the hard drive. Meaning, you can't just whip it out of your computer and put it in your degausser. Putting a tape/VHS degausser over your hard drive is not effective enough and will possibly leave some data and even whole files intact.

Lastly, good degaussers cost upwards of $3500 USD.

Quakeboy02 · 04-01-2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by socceroos

On the other hand, it seems that a neat method is to put a brick of thermite over your HDD and have a little mechanism to set it off. Apparently a thin layer of nitro with a ribbon of magnesium is an effective way to light the thermite.

Good lord! What could you possibly have on your hard drive that you'd be willing to risk conviction on an ATF explosives charge?

socceroos · 04-01-2009, 06:11 PM

I don't think the charges are what matters most. Its what the aggressor can do with that information.

jschiwal · 04-04-2009, 07:14 AM

If a mobster or spammer or BR employee has a gun pointed at your head, and demands an encryption key, not giving them a working key could be fatal.

H_TeXMeX_H · 04-04-2009, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschiwal

If a mobster or spammer or BR employee has a gun pointed at your head, and demands an encryption key, not giving them a working key could be fatal.

That's where plausible dependability comes in, give them the key, but what they don't know is that it opens a different part of the archive.

wsduvall · 04-04-2009, 10:29 AM

Then, when he doesn't find what he wants he shoots you. Unless you set up some kind of complex system of false information. Probably best to not anger the mob...

H_TeXMeX_H · 04-04-2009, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wsduvall

Then, when he doesn't find what he wants he shoots you. Unless you set up some kind of complex system of false information. Probably best to not anger the mob...

lol, maybe. Make sure something he wants is on that part that he gets, just not enough to incriminate you too badly.