How Long to Crack an 'Encrypted' HD?

brainburger asks: "In the UK, Tony Blair has recently lost a parliametary vote to allow the police to hold terrorist suspects for 90 days without trial. One of the justifications the police gave for the extension from 14 days to 90 days was that they need the extra 76 days to decrypt the computer hard-drives of suspects. This has been seen by some as the only compelling reason to allow 90 days. The time-limit has been extended to 28 days instead, but Tony Blair insists 90 days is required. Are there really any encryption systems that cannot be cracked in 28 days, but which can be cracked in 90? Aside from the not-much-discussed issue that the police can no longer interrogate a suspect after they are charged, I suspect the police meant unencrypted machines. What do you think?"

Comments

Disk Imaging?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. Why not just take out the hard disk, stick it in another computer, copy the disk to an image, put the suspect's hard drive back, and let him out as early as day 1, taking your sweet time to decrypt the hard drive?

Isn't this a lot safer than just turning on a computer that might be rigged to start shredding data after, say, 3 invalid password guesses?

Re: Disk Imaging?

[Black Parrot]

> Wow. Why not just take out the hard disk, stick it in another computer, copy the disk to an image, put the suspect's hard drive back, and let him out as early as day 1, taking your sweet time to decrypt the hard drive?

I think the point is that they want to be free keep the suspect in custody until they have some actual evidence that he's a criminal.

IMO, if the only evidence they have is "maybe there's something on his disk drive", they shouldn't be arresting him in the first place.