Re: Stego-empty hard drives... (fwd)
Forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:05:30 -0400 From: Sunder <sunder@brainlink.com> Subject: Re: Stego-empty hard drives...
What's this bullshit, eh? Just overwrite the BIOS roms in your machine to return all zeros for the sectors you don't want to show them. Have some special passphrase you have to type in while in the BIOS setup program to deactivate this. Most newer notebooks have flash upgradeable ROMs anyway.
What's this bullshit, eh? I wonder how you propose to answer the question: "Sir, exactly why are you typing that sentence into the computer at this time?" Now we have not only given them probably cause but clear evidence for a prior intent to commit a crime. Even if your hard drive is clean they're going to bust your ass. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Choate wrote:
Forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:05:30 -0400 From: Sunder <sunder@brainlink.com> Subject: Re: Stego-empty hard drives...
What's this bullshit, eh? Just overwrite the BIOS roms in your machine to return all zeros for the sectors you don't want to show them. Have some special passphrase you have to type in while in the BIOS setup program to deactivate this. Most newer notebooks have flash upgradeable ROMs anyway.
What's this bullshit, eh?
I wonder how you propose to answer the question:
"Sir, exactly why are you typing that sentence into the computer at this time?"
Now we have not only given them probably cause but clear evidence for a prior intent to commit a crime. Even if your hard drive is clean they're going to bust your ass.
I believe that the idea was to set it up so that BIOS defaults to HD-hiding mode. When you're taking your laptop through customs, you do nothing while the machine boots up, the doctored BIOS does its thing, and everybody's happy. When you want to get at the stuff on the rest of the HD, you reboot and type in your passphrase. Presumably, one wouldn't do this in front of a customs official. :)
Jim Choate wrote:
Forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 16:05:30 -0400 From: Sunder <sunder@brainlink.com> Subject: Re: Stego-empty hard drives...
What's this bullshit, eh? Just overwrite the BIOS roms in your machine to return all zeros for the sectors you don't want to show them. Have some special passphrase you have to type in while in the BIOS setup program to deactivate this. Most newer notebooks have flash upgradeable ROMs anyway.
What's this bullshit, eh?
I wonder how you propose to answer the question:
"Sir, exactly why are you typing that sentence into the computer at this time?"
What's this bullshit, eh? Just overwrite the BIOS roms in your machine to return all zeros for the sectors you don't want to show them. Have some special passphrase you have to type in while in the BIOS setup program to deactivate this. Most newer notebooks have flash upgradeable ROMs anyway. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ By "this" I mean the method of not allowing access to the hidden cylinders. By deactivating, I mean disabling the routine that hides the hidden cylinders,
Ah hem! To quote myself: thus letting you access the partition. This means that you wouldn't be typing in the special passphrase in front of the Customs official. It means that when >YOU< wish to use your encrypted partition (in the privacy of your hotel root), you would type in the passphrase to activate it's visibility and accesibility to the rest of your machine. Further that BY DEFAULT, the hidden space on the drive (preferably a partition) would normally not be reported by the bios hiding the true number of cylinders from the OS's.
Now we have not only given them probably cause but clear evidence for a prior intent to commit a crime. Even if your hard drive is clean they're going to bust your ass.
How? You won't type in the passphrase in front of them. You'll let the bios do its thing and HIDE the extra partion from their scanner. -- =====================================Kaos=Keraunos=Kybernetos============== .+.^.+.| Sunder |Prying open my 3rd eye. So good to see |./|\. ..\|/..|sunder@sundernet.com|you once again. I thought you were |/\|/\ <--*-->| ------------------ |hiding, and you thought that I had run |\/|\/ ../|\..| "A toast to Odin, |away chasing the tail of dogma. I opened|.\|/. .+.v.+.|God of screwdrivers"|my eye and there we were.... |..... ======================= http://www.sundernet.com ==========================
participants (3)
-
Jim Choate -
Michael Hohensee -
Sunder