Windows Realistically, can police retrieve data from RAM?

Maybe that hard drive was getting noisy and i broke it in frustration, coincidentally at the same time the police showed up outside.

 

And you broke it to such an extent that the data within is entirely destroyed? A prosecution barrister would tear you up for arse paper if you gave that defence in court.

 

Well, i could pull the mentally unstable card? Apparently that works. RAAAAAAAAAAGE!

And who's saying there was data on it to begin with could have been a scratch disk.

 

Yup, that would work really well - at least in the UK.

 

You could sand the hard drives into powder and eat the powder as shurbert?
Good luck getting pr0n from that

 

you truly under estimate technology and those at the fore front of it.

Encryption is basically a large computer mathematic algorithm that can easily be decrypted by a more powerful computer or smarter program.

Any one using store bought encryption has no chance against the behemoth super computers of IBM or the smart proprietary programs used by those at the fore front of technology.

Do you think the Pentagon uses some lame 256-bit AES-Twofish-Serpent encryption? Their servers are under attack 24/7 365 by computer systems with government funding.

Electronic information is the hardest type of information to secure because it's basic fundamental principle hasn't changed since it's invention.

 

Quote: In cryptography, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric-key encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government. AES is the first publicly accessible and open cipher approved by the NSA for top secret information.*

So I wouldn't be surprised if they are using AES.


* Westlund, Harold B. (2002). "NIST reports measurable success of Advanced Encryption Standard". Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

 

This may add to the discussion...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11479831

Looks like the Police don't have the power to crack a code after all. I bet MI6 do though!

 

Why would sensitive information be kept anywhere near external-facing terminals?

 

because the internet was originally designed for the us military to send data around the world to it's bases of operation, without having to send masses of paperwork all over the place, with multiple copies being here there and everywhere

 

No it doesn't, YOU DOUCHE.

The ideal situation is one where the police gets to see the illegal material, but the privacy of innocent people remains intact. Now i'm not saying that this is even possible, but this law has the effect of reality reaching the polar opposite of the ideal situation. Anybody who's got gomething serious to hide will always opt for the easy way out, not giving the pass. He will simultaneously be handed an ideal coverstory (i was making a stand for my privacy). Anybody who has nothing to hide but "private" stuff will have their harddrive turned inside-out on the penalty of becoming a convicted felon.

Whoever thought this sh!tcake law up must have been smoking something properly illegal (except here in Holland that is ).

 

So I have DBAN and Truecrypt on a USB storage device (along with loads of other freeware programs) and the encryption key memorised. Is there any way for anyone to tell the difference between me having a number of drives encrypted with truecrypt or a number of drives I happened to write over with random data using DBAN last night?

p.s. Would encrypting, hypothetically, 4 or 5 drives in a RAID setup plus a couple independant SSD's using 1 passkey be extremely complicated or not much more trouble than just encrypting a single drive with everything on it?

 

Kind of curious what you've been up too, to be considering trashing ram.

I'll look out for you on 'news at ten'.

Bong ! 'Man asked advice on a tech forum to try and hide evidence shortly before being arrested.........Bong !

 

Another point I'd link to this is the requirement to keep certain types of data (e.g. bank/credit card PIN numbers) secure. One bank I use specifically bars me from disclosing such data, even to the police, so if I store it electronically, it has to be encrypted and the password kept secret.

Disclose the password and you risk being held liable for any subsequent fraud on your account, whatever the source (which, depending on your finances, could go up to thousands of pounds). Keep it secret and you risk imprisonment.

Going back to the original topic, RAM would have to be intensely cooled to allow retrieval 2-3 hours later (which is probably how long it would require to move a system to a specialist forensics department and complete the paperwork). The idea of a police raid involving officers wearing neoprene clothing, struggling with heavy dewars of liquid nitrogen is one that boggles the mind somewhat - even then, all you need to do is switch your computer off at the mains socket and take your time answering the door ("Hello, is that a dewar of liquid nitrogen or are you just pleased to see me, Officer?").

 

They could be using this

 

An interesting idea - though given the "typical" Bit-Tech forumer's 600W+ power guzzler, they'd need one seriously large battery!

Their "mouse jiggler" would be a problem though - as a USB device it would make a change to the target computer's configuration when plugged in, which could make it ineligible as evidence.

 

You have been watching too much CSI. Also, who exactly is attacking US military servers 24/7 365?

 

Look dude, you've posted a good 20 times in this thread so far, and really, you have some idea of the challenges security professionals face, and some idea of technical forensics, but you really don't know near enough to be talking about it. Try to educate yourself a little more on the subjects before dashing off to web forums filled with people who may know this stuff, so that rather than spew off what little hearsay you have, you could provide reasonable input.

Are government servers under "Attack" 24/7? Probably. Is it a targeted, dedicated effort from ne-er do wells? Probably not. It's no secret that the web is filled with automated viruses looking for things to infect, exploits, and people who turn a living stealing your identity. But it's also filled with wonderful things like culture and puppies.

There are ways for the ultra-paranoid to cover tracks - such as a SSD which can zero itself in milliseconds. But like I've said before, I don't think the government cares nearly enough to track everyone in their day to day life.

Besides, why would you want to bother with the struggle of getting into computers from the outside? Between outdated computers and sheer user stupidity, openings in security present themselves all the time.

 

Can't we all just get along?