Hi everyone, I found the great question on booting encrypted drives, and since I’m somewhat paranoid I’d like to ask a follow-up:
When the key to decrypt the drive is input into the system, I’m assuming it stays in the RAM till the time the computer shuts downs. We know that one could, in theory, get a dump of the contents of the RAM in such a state, if done correctly. How would you deal with this problem? Is there some way to insert the USB, decrypt the drive, and then remove the USB and all traces of the key from the system?
Thanks!
Edit: link to the question I referenced: https://feddit.de/post/6735667
Sharing this article as I think it ties in with this conversation well: https://www.zdnet.com/article/cryogenically-frozen-ram-bypasses-all-disk-encryption-methods/
I do want to say that for most people, this is likely NOT a concern, but I don’t know OPs threat model.
For those not clicking the link, “cryogenically frozen” actually means an upside down can of compressed air.
That was a perfect one sentence summary of the article!
Its amazing some of the things people come up with like gathering intel on what a computer is doing via power draw changes, monitoring an air-gapped computers electromagnetic fields, or in this case “cryogenically” freezing ram with compressed air.
On the other hand, it’s also worth noting that newer RAM generations are less and less susceptible to this kind of attack. Not because of any countermeasures, they just lose the data without constant refreshing much quicker even when chilled / frozen, so the attack becomes impractical.
So from DDR4 up, you’re probably safe.
OP is likely Raoul Silva, the antagonist from Skyfall (2012).