shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields) (08/29/90)
[cross-posted to alt.hackers. please followup appropriately.] wendt@ives.cs.colostate.edu (alan l wendt) writes: >Does anyone know how many systems were seized as "evidence" by the FBI >last year? I've heard that this figure was published recently but I >missed it. Look in a recent Harpers Magazine (don't know which.) >Does anyone make an encrypting BIOS that maintains everything on the >disk (except for the boot area) in encrypted form, and asks you for >the password on power-up? Such a BIOS would complicate things for >the Federales as they seize our property. Actually, I and a colleague wrote such a thing in 1985 for the PC. It was called Resident Encryption Scheme -- a device driver which trapped the disk I/O calls and encrypted/decrypted a partition on the disk. It was never marketed, because of the following deficiencies: a) it wasn't secure; b) it was slow; c) the market remaining after (a) and (b) would pirate it. And as a matter of fact, a cracker I happened to be acquainted with at the time managed to obtain a copy of the software (without my permission) and used it (without my knowledge) in his escapades. This led to the first successful test of the product. If you're interested in the full story, I'll write my memoirs someday, or you can phone me at home. -- Paul Shields shields@nccn.yorku.ca
evanh@sco.COM (Evan A.C. Hunt) (09/06/90)
shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields): >wendt@ives.cs.colostate.edu (alan l wendt) writes: >>Does anyone know how many systems were seized as "evidence" by the FBI >>last year? I've heard that this figure was published recently but I >>missed it. > >Look in a recent Harpers Magazine (don't know which.) Harper's Index just had an item that 23,000 disks had been seized last May. There may have been another item in the issue that was more detailed, but I didn't see it (I don't usually read the whole magazine, just the Index). -- Evan A.C. Hunt evanh@sco.COM The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. uunet!sco!evanh (408) 425-7222 evanh%sco.COM@ucscc.ucsc.EDU