Privacy

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Is there a way to make it so that your devices (sd cards, USBs, phones, laptops) etc can't be copied without knowing the password ? (programming.dev)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/17104927

After the news about FBI accesing trump shooters phone some people are speculating that they copied the phone storage so that they could bruteforce it without getting locked out if that is true is there anyway to make it so that your digital device can't be copied without the passwd if someone has physical acess to it and all the bruteforcing etc have to be done on the original device itself so we have a better chance of privacy . I am a layman but i use a good enough password on my phone and encrypt some sd card storage (which i knoe can be copied bcause i do it myself) but if the phones whole storage can be copied it seems kinda pointless . so my questions are :

1 Does new smartphones do it by default ?if so how is wiping the phone when forgetting password possible ?

2 does full disk encryption do this ?

3 Does windows (8) have any thing that could do this for micro sd card and smartphone ? (some background is i only have a windows 8 craptop and it takes ages to load and Microsoft appstore nor sideloading works now encrypting the laptop is not needed as i barely do anything on it but was thinking if i could encrypt my phone or sd card using it (it is really really slow (think can't even load MS word in an hour slow) ) if not see question 4 )also before you ask can't install linux tried and failed.

4 beside from encrypting certain files using file manager encryption can i encrypt my sd card on android itself by using any app ? (preferably from fdroid ) .

5 is all these even possible or is our only option hoping that our passwds are too complex to be bruteforced ?

6 also many people talk about updating your OS to increasing security but what about outdated hardware ? do they posses a risk or things like USB,sd cards etc which doesn't get any update ? Do they suffer security risk as time moves on ? is that even a thing ?

Try to answer questions in these format pardon my ignorance and grammer even if i delete my acc feel free to still comment so it can be useful to others and i may still drop in to see the answers .

idk how crossposting works but i have also made this post on asklemmy .

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

sooo theres no way of preventing ur phones storage from being copied. it has to be stored on a chip somewhere, and that chips contents can be copied.

there is however a different way of protecting the data.

a strong encryption password is the only real protection against this kind of attack. modern phones have a chip called a Trusted Platform Module, that is capable of storing secret keys in a way thats very difficult to get to even with physical access to the device.

the way i understand encryption on modern phones, is that ur unlock PIN is passed to the TPM, which then passes a secret key (longer and more complex password than ur PIN) to the system to decrypt ur files.

this way, if u only copy the phones storage, u will have to bruteforce this very complex key thats stored in the TPM. or u would have to try to hack or brute-force the TPM itself, which is hardened against those types of attacks specifically.

having said all that, idk if its even reasonable to expect a phone to ever be secure against targeted government agencies attacks. best protection is not having anything personal on ur phone in the first place. so set disappearing messages on messengers, etc.

TL;DR use a long pin or a strong password for ur phone and try to remove any incriminating information from ur phone as soon as its not needed there anymore.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

With physical access to the device and encryption chips, you basically can’t defend against those kinds of resources.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago

If it can be read (i.e. used) it can be copied. Self-destruct is a possibility, thermite FTW ;). There are encryption technologies that will resist even this level of resources however, I'm guessing 1024-bit encryption is good until Q-day, probably more with a quantum ready algorithm, although none of those have been tested yet.

That's when they bring out the rubber hose...