Your Government at Work

Laptop Vulnerability

From Bruce Schneier, Security Expert:
Excerpts from his Newsletter of May 15, 2008 <https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0805.html>
"In April, 2008, a US Court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you're entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days". ... "Encrypting your entire hard drive, something you should certainly do for security in case your computer is lost or stolen, won't work here. The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a "please type in your password." Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day.
You're going to have to hide your data. "... "So your best defence is to clean up your laptop. A customs agent can't read what you don't have."..."If you can't, consider putting your sensitive data on a USB drive" See our Deniable Encryption:" even 16GB cards are reasonably priced these days. Encrypt it, of course, because it's easy to lose something that small. Slip it in your pocket, and it's likely to remain unnoticed even if the customs agent pokes through your laptop. If someone does discover it, you can try saying: "I don't know what's on there. My boss told me to give it to the head of the New York office." If you've chosen a strong encryption password, you won't care if he confiscates it." ...

The Solution

"I know this all sounds like work, and that it's easier to just ignore everything here and hope you don't get searched. Today, the odds are in your favor. But new forensic tools are making automatic searches easier and easier, and the recent US court ruling is likely to embolden other countries. It's better to be safe than sorry." (emphasis added)