notabot

It’s always fun to get your offset slightly wrong, and jump into the middle of an instruction.

Given its nature and functionality, it’s hard to see how the TPM subsystem itself could be backdoored in any meaningful fashion without the rest of the CPU also being compromised. Whilst that is certainly possible, and the remote management engines (IME and such) almost certainly are, it seems more likely to me that the encryption algorythms themselves are deliberately weakened in some way. The NSA, famously, have done that sort of thing before, subtly influencing aspects of the design of cryptographic systems to make them easier for them to break. It would not surprise me, for example, to discover that the supposedly random key material is actually linked to something like your CPU’s ID.

None-the-less, using functionality help prevent someone who has your password, but isn’t a government actor, decrypting your data.

That’s absolutely possible, but there’s not much you can do about that really. My point was simply in response to OP’s assertion about encryption protecting your data from ‘alphabet agencies’. It wont because it is very unlikely you consider keeping your data confidential more important than your life.

I edited my comment, it was the mod who deleted your comment.

I don’t see many people debating you, but I do see a number of comments, including my own, that are pointing out things that need to be considered, or expanding on what you’d said. I don’t see much that could be called ‘stupid’, but you seem to be carrying a lot of pent up frustration and anger. You’ll probably find you have much more productiv£ and pleasant exchanges if you dump that on other people though.

One need only read or watch the news to know that a disturbingly large number of people are being abducted, predominantly under the umbrealla of ICE, but also for political reasons. It seems likely that if an agency has interest in the data of someone like that, presure of various sorts will be brought to bear on them. Most people will hand over their passwords long before the threat of physical violence is manifested, but the threat is there none-the-less. As you say, this won’t apply to most everyday citizens, for now at least.

Ultimately, it’s a case of setting up your security posture to match your own threat models. Encryption is an excellent step, but only addresses some threats, online attacks being the most obvious set that it does not help with.

You can have your machine unencrypt using the TPM module, have a look at clevis for example. Once you’ve got it set up you can pretty much forget it’s there.

I was actually largely agreeing with you, but responding to the bit where you said:

It Protects your files in case your computer is ever stolen and prevents alphabet agencies from just brute forcing into your Laptop or whatever.

It’ll stop alphabet agencies from brute forcing it, sure, but that’s not how they would approach extracting the information.

I see ~you’ve~ the mod has deleted this comment thread though, so it’s unlikely anyone else will see it.

As to your question about what technology would stop it, I think you may need to think differently as no technology will stop a determined enough opponent torturing you for a password, but they’re much more likely to attempt a malware style attack against you to skip all that bother. So countermeasures would involve a well locked down system (think about things like SELinux with MLS enabled and using VMs to isolate processes) and good information hygiene practices to reduce the risk of infection and the risk of it spreading if you are infected.

You want to think very carefully before giving a duress password, or using a destructive panic button when dealing with law enforcement. If you do, you will be charged with, at least, destruction of evidence. You have to decide if your data is worth that. A duress password that only decrypts part of your data is probably safer if twinned with deniable encryption, although you still risk legal trouble.

Encrypting your drives is a very sensible step to take, and it’s so low effort that it’s a no brainer in most cases. It’ll stop casual thieves stealing you machine and reading your files, and combining your password with a TPM encrypted one will mean your data isn’t readable on any machine except yours, even if the attacker has your password, which adds a little extra protection.

Unfortunately, none of that protects you against an adversary who is willing to kidnap and torture you to get your files. At that point you have to make a choice, which is more important; your files or your life/not being tortured. Fortunately, most people will never be in that situation, so should encrypt their drives and accept they’ll reveal their encryption passphrase if taken hostage/arrested.

That has unironicaly made me nostalgic for the days when the web was a place of experimentation, joy and just a bit of crazy.