On 26 Feb 2008 at 12:03, Ken Schaefer wrote: > Read their whitepaper - the RAM contents are available for between about 5 > and 25 seconds depending on the type of RAM used. Freezing the RAM allows > the contents to be preserved for longer periods. > > So, as long as you shut down your machine and keep it secure for the next 30 > seconds (let's say 60 seconds to be safe) you should be fine. > > If you hibernate your machine, but require some additional user input to > restore RAM contents, then you should be fine to, as the attacker can't just > turn the machine back on.
If you password-protect the BIOS and also set the machine to boot only from the HDD, then you should IMHO be mostly protected against this attack, which requires rebooting the machine from a USB stick or CD. If you do the above, a remaining feasible attack would be chilling the RAM and inserting it in another box to be read there. I don't know of any cases that turn off the computer when the case is opened, but that might become necessary in the future for secure systems. Secure RAM sockets might become a feature ... -- Angus Scott-Fleming GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona 1-520-290-5038 +-----------------------------------+ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
