Tag Archives: cold boot

Disk encryption vulnerable to attack

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A recently released demonstration from Princeton University shows that most disk encryption systems, including MicrosoftCold RAM Vista Bitlocker, Apple FileVault, Linux dm-crypt, and TrueCrypt, are vulnerable to a simple attack that will result in the attacker being able to read the entire contents of an encrypted hard drive.

Lessons learned:

  • It is still highly important to prevent physical theft of a laptop computer
  • It is preferable to shut down a system as opposed to leaving it in sleep mode

Articles:

Wired Magazine

News.com

Princeton University

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Register

New York Times

AP

Network World