Security & Encryption

[Grumpy]

Wohoo, my first post after months of reading

Since the Pandora is a portable device it will propably get stolen or just lost.
Which security features will it have?

Is there a password check to prevent others to boot it? If yes how secure is it?
And on the other side will it be possible to encrypt the SDHC cards without loosing to much performance?

What about adding something to electric-shock the thief? The battery life would go down in no time ... but hey if it works? :lol: Ah just joking ...

 

[Pleng]

Since the Pandora is a portable device it will propably get stolen or just lost.

Probably? Hmmm best be a bit more caeful!

QUOTE

Which security features will it have?

Is there a password check to prevent others to boot it? If yes how secure is it?


I doubt it. What would you then do if you forgot your password?

QUOTE

And on the other side will it be possible to encrypt the SDHC cards without loosing to much performance?


Theoretically possible. but it all depends on the default file system.

QUOTE

What about adding something to electric-shock the thief?



Lawsuits

 

[paulobecker]

What about adding something to electric-shock the thief? The battery life would go down in no time ... but hey if it works?

Good luck getting someone to test that feature.

Seriously though, correct me if I'm wrong here but I don't think total volume encryption would be feasible without causing a big impact on performance/battery life. Portable systems are usually not the best number crunchers, and on-the-fly encryption/decryption takes a lot of processing power.

Maybe you could get away with creating a separate container for encrypted files, and store just the secretive stuff in there.

 

[sindbad]

Encrypted filesystems shouldn't be too taxing on battery life and much less on performance. But it will certainly not be so by default. And there's the issue of seeing the contents of that sd card on another device.

I would expect password-protected boot to be there by default, or at least as an option. Such a password protection would be as good as any other linux login if activated at linux boot. It could also be in it's bios and I can't speculate on the security of that.

 

[icurafu]

remember that this device has hardware encryption and decryption via m-sheild. (plus a lot more) So encryption and decryption will be near full speed, plus keys will be hidden in the hardware, not software, so it'll be much harder to hack.

 

[God Ginrai]

Wohoo, my first post after months of reading

Since the Pandora is a portable device it will propably get stolen or just lost.
Which security features will it have?

Is there a password check to prevent others to boot it? If yes how secure is it?
And on the other side will it be possible to encrypt the SDHC cards without loosing to much performance?

What about adding something to electric-shock the thief? The battery life would go down in no time ... but hey if it works? :lol: Ah just joking ...

It'll have crime deterrent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4O4f6FKYyc

-God Ginrai

 

[_VWV_]

remember that this device has hardware encryption and decryption via m-sheild. (plus a lot more) So encryption and decryption will be near full speed, plus keys will be hidden in the hardware, not software, so it'll be much harder to hack.

Wow! This is awesome! Though the software part ot TIs M-shield should be ported to andora1: . I quickly read the speks but didn't get if it accelerates aes encryption?
Back on topic. If we have the 2.6.24 kernel we'll have aes-xts which is strong enough to protect you from simple brood force and more sophisticated attacks like watermarking.

 

[God Ginrai]

brood force

Just to let you know, it's "brute"

-God Ginrai

 

[icurafu]

It should work.

What I don't know is if it support hashing above sha-1. The omap3430 spec I was reading does not support hashing above sha-1.

 

[JayFoxRox]

Seriously.. whats the use of encrypting it? Do you really think the thief would come back to bring your locked pandora saying: "Woah, couldn't find the password, sorry for stealing it bro.."?
The only risk is to forget your own password.. You shouldn't store important data on portable devices anyway, and if you do you might want to encrypt the data using third party software, why should the hardware do this kind of work?

 

[God Ginrai]

Seriously.. whats the use of encrypting it? Do you really think the thief would come back to bring your locked pandora saying: "Woah, couldn't find the password, story for stealing it bro.."?
The only risk is to forget your own password.. You shouldn't store important data on portable devices anyway, and if you do you might want to encrypt the data using third party software, why should the hardware do this kind of work?

Nah, the thief'll come back and hold a knife up to you and say: "What's the pass, bro?"

What's wrong with letting the hardware do work instead of software?

-God Ginrai

 

[_VWV_]

It should work.

What I don't know is if it support hashing above sha-1. The omap3430 spec I was reading does not support hashing above sha-1.

Thanks indeed! Things are getting more and more interesting with time . I really hope sha-256 will be available in hardware.
If someone finds a link to a more detailed specs of the M-shield please post it here. Thanx in advance.

Seriously.. whats the use of encrypting it? Do you really think the thief would come back to bring your locked pandora saying: "Woah, couldn't find the password, sorry for stealing it bro.."?
The only risk is to forget your own password.. You shouldn't store important data on portable devices anyway, and if you do you might want to encrypt the data using third party software, why should the hardware do this kind of work?

Have you heard about plans of the US government? They plan to allow customs to take away your electronic devices when you enter the US. I don't want somebody to have access to my personal information. Will it be a policeman or a thief it doesn't matter. If there's hardware acceleration things will work much faster especially in some cases when the entire OS except /boot is encrypted.

 

[Chip]

Have you heard about plans of the US government? They plan to allow customs to take away your electronic devices when you enter the US. I don't want somebody to have access to my personal information. Will it be a policeman or a thief it doesn't matter. If there's hardware acceleration things will work much faster especially in some cases when the entire OS except /boot is encrypted.

This "plan" also requires you to divulge any passwords / keys that your system uses. Recent US case law has concluded that you may not withhold password information under protection of the 5th amendment, not that any amendment means much to federal stormtroopers agents these days. If you refuse to comply, your equipment will be confiscated and you can be either detained or refused entry into the country.

Once the feds have your equipment, they will crack any encryption that you may have installed. If you are traveling to the US and have any concern about the integrity of your data, do not carry it with you.

 

[God Ginrai]

Have you heard about plans of the US government? They plan to allow customs to take away your electronic devices when you enter the US. I don't want somebody to have access to my personal information. Will it be a policeman or a thief it doesn't matter. If there's hardware acceleration things will work much faster especially in some cases when the entire OS except /boot is encrypted.

This "plan" also requires you to divulge any passwords / keys that your system uses. Recent US case law has concluded that you may not withhold password information under protection of the 5th amendment, not that any amendment means much to federal stormtroopers agents these days. If you refuse to comply, your equipment will be confiscated and you can be either detained or refused entry into the country.

Once the feds have your equipment, they will crack any encryption that you may have installed. If you are traveling to the US and have any concern about the integrity of your data, do not carry it with you.


Is this the same for just travelling within the US? (or leaving the country?) Also, what if your electronics are packed away?

-God Ginrai

 

[Chip]

Is this the same for just travelling within the US? (or leaving the country?) Also, what if your electronics are packed away?

For now it applies to anybody entering the US, citizen or not. As far as border security is concerned, there is no differentiation between items in checked baggage, carry-on baggage, or on your person. If you attempt to bring an item into the country, it is susceptible to search and/or seizure without any need to show cause or justification. The digital contents of your electronic devices - including laptops, PDAs, cellphones, etc - are included in this. If your device is seized, there is no guarantee that it will be returned in working order, or even that it will be returned at all.

 

[_VWV_]

This "plan" also requires you to divulge any passwords / keys that your system uses. Recent US case law has concluded that you may not withhold password information under protection of the 5th amendment, not that any amendment means much to federal stormtroopers agents these days. If you refuse to comply, your equipment will be confiscated and you can be either detained or refused entry into the country.

Once the feds have your equipment, they will crack any encryption that you may have installed. If you are traveling to the US and have any concern about the integrity of your data, do not carry it with you.


Do you mean nothing is left but hope that such shit will never come true?
And what if I've forgotten the password? Will I be put into prison for having bad memory? The US is truly the country of freedom..
And why do you think they'll break it that easy? Do you know some vulnerabilities in aes-xts?
But to say it seriously you're right, I'll give away all the passwords to the officials just not to be refused to enter the country.

 

[Chip]

Do you mean nothing is left but hope that such shit will never come true?

It already has. Here is some more info on the (already enacted) plan, including a link to the official policy itself. Here, here, and here are examples of people who have already had to deal with arbitrary confiscations.

 

[paulobecker]

Two words: plausible deniability.

So much for the land of the free, huh.

 

[Squidge]

The only way around the plan is to just use your device as a tool. Store no data on it, and access that data remotely via Wifi (NFS export to encrypted files). They can't force you to disclose passwords and keys to such features, as they are not required for examination of the device you are taking into that country.

 

[TaG]

So much for the land of the free, huh.
You are free not to go.

The only way around the plan is to just use your device as a tool. Store no data on it,
Quite right - store no data, no games, no mp3 etc unless you can prove it's legality.

and access that data remotely via Wifi (NFS export to encrypted files). They can't force you to disclose passwords and keys to such features, as they are not required for examination of the device you are taking into that country.
Yet.