Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys

Contrary to popular assumption, DRAMs used in most modern computers retain their contents for seconds to minutes after power is lost, even at operating temperatures and even if removed from a motherboard...

... We use cold reboots to mount attacks on popular disk encryption systems - BitLocker, FileVault, dm-crypt, and TrueCrypt - using no special devices or materials.

[JoelR]

Hmm and here I thought a post about a method that allows any encryption that uses the main memory on a computer to be hacked easily would have been more interesting to people....

[Fishy Fingers]

Probably a graphic comparison thread somewhere.

I actually found it very interesting, although I'm not really interested in putting my new found knowledge into action ;)

[JoelR]

Lol ... thanks that made my day.
And yes.. it seems like a scary way to hack doesn't it.

The implications are this though:

1) any game that uses dynamic encryption and a moniter program to stop you free reading the encryption key (ie: WOW, Conan, (any games that use punk buster type systems))
2) any system which uses the TDM
3) any system that has realtime drive encryption

CAN BE BROKEN IF YOU HAVE PHYSICAL ACCESS... and that means all online games with clients and anything else that a consumer has digitally in their possession.

[Tetsuryu]

Pretty neat if you ask me.

This opens up a new can of worms, just image the possibilities.

Though the likelihood of this happening to any individual is obviously low, ever lower than winning the lottery lol.

Law enforcement could probably benefit from this if it's taken further.

For those wondering the name of the software stored on the external hard disk, it's bitUnlocker.

[miked808]

The talent level of some people just amazes me. Brillant.

[JoelR]

I really wonder what led them to try and do this as a doctoral project... Did they lose power and then get back power and not lose their spot (pure luck)? or was it more of a question of how long the various types of ram allowing data to decay over time without power (pure science)?
The implications are staggering in potential.