Hackers, Activists, Journos: How To Build a Secure Burner Laptop (vice.com)

sarahnaomi writes to describe a presentation by security researcher Georg Wicherski at the t2'15 infosec conference; Wicherski outlined in his talk several steps that could be taken to render an ordinary Chromebook immune (or at least very, very resistant) to malware attacks, even when an adversary has physical access to it. These customizations make it difficult for an attacker to use any sort of turnkey solution, presenting a barrier to any off-the-shelf equipment attackers might use. At border crossings, Wicherski said possible attackers might have "an appliance, that comes with a manual, and low-skilled operators." By using a setup that is not very common, the border cops might not know what to do.

Comments

Re:way to go DHI

[AmiMoJo]

It's a shame that TFA seems to suck, because this is a big concern for a lot of people. I encrypt my laptop, but at the border your rights are severely diminished and they can do all sorts of nasty things to you. So far the best option seems to be to carry an innocuous laptop with nothing of interest on it, and mail myself an encrypted flash drive with the real OS and data on it.

Even with a phone you can do a "nandroid" backup (on Android) of the real OS, wipe it back to factory and then restore when you reach safety.

Re:they know EXACTLY what to do

[Lumpy]

Not a problem officer..... It's password99.

and it boots to a clean sanitized setup. "please don't look at my manuscripts in there, I'm not a very good writer and get embarrassed of someone reads my book I am writing. "

and I am on my way.

Honestly, if you are not smart enough to have your real information safely elsewhere then you deserve to be detained. microSD cards are a freaking dime a dozen and can easily be hidden anywhere. Hell put one under the stamp on a letter to yourself at your destination.