Why not put critical or proprietary files on a flash key? I carry a 4G flash key on my keyring. Airport security has never given it a second look. If the laptop ends up in the hands of a sticky-fingered baggage handler (or the TSA), there's nothing there for them to find. And, to defeat the nosey customs folk who now want to login and rummage around your files when you enter the US, create a dummy account and give them that login when they insist on inspecting your laptop for "child porn". I've got nothing to hide, but I don't want some ham handed idiot accidently deleting stuff either... Joe McGuckin ViaNet Communications joe@via.net 650-207-0372 cell 650-213-1302 office 650-969-2124 fax On Aug 12, 2006, at 7:44 AM, Todd Vierling wrote:
On 8/11/06, Christopher L. Morrow <christopher.morrow@verizonbusiness.com> wrote:
It's also a great time to plant some file that POOF the authorities will decrypt & show it's kiddie porn. {Or just hide same in your browser cache.} Do YOU know what every frigging file on your machine is?
and here I was thinking: "Quick! buy stock in whole disk encryption software makers!"
Any laptop NOT using full disk encryption from the moment of boot-up is begging for trouble. As has been pointed out many times, laptops DO get lost, and not just in airline facilities.
This can be accomplished with just about any OS. Some require loading an OS kernel first with a custom ramdisk or mini-partition to kick off the encrypted disk driver; others can use off the shelf products designed expressly for this purpose.
The only thing that bugs most people about full disk encryption is that it often doesn't support "hibernation" -- but if the hardware has a standby power save mode that is low enough on power consumption (S3 or similar), that shouldn't be a problem.
-- -- Todd Vierling <tv@duh.org> <tv@pobox.com> <todd@vierling.name>