Timeline for Sanitize computer after Homeland Security seizure [closed]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
38 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 25, 2021 at 2:20 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| May 28, 2021 at 13:11 | |||||
| Nov 13, 2015 at 22:29 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| Nov 18, 2015 at 12:55 | |||||
| Nov 13, 2015 at 20:31 | history | closed |
Iszi thexacre Xander Stephane Adi |
Needs more focus | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 20:16 | comment | added | Caleb | Was your year's worth of source code in a version control system that has a checksum mechanism? If so do you have any way (email archives for example) of verifying the checksums at any point? Most of the answers so far are alarmist and generalized. And there is good reason for that but given certain specifics there may be ways to safely recover some of your data. | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 19:51 | comment | added | Ken - Enough about Monica | Jake - Would you mind giving me background as to why this happened? Maybe what behavior we should avoid in the airport? | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 18:07 | comment | added | Count Iblis | Now, if Homeland Security staff can read your unencrypted document then they will have to act on the information in it, assuming that this is sufficiently alarming. Homeland Security will want to keep you in the dark about what they know at this stage to make sure you keep up with spewing information about your plans using your laptop. If you write about some plot against a target that normally has little security and you suddenly see a lot of security there, then that's a sign that Homeland Security has read your document. You then want to get rid of your computer. | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 18:07 | comment | added | Count Iblis | You can test whether or not Homeland Security has installed undetectable spyware by doing precisely those things that is bound to catch the attention of Homeland Security without actually violating any laws. You can think of writing up a plan to launch a terror attack, use RSA encoding to encrypt the document and then upload that to a mail server, e.g. a throwaway gmail account. You then behave like a terrorist who communicates via a shared gmail account and RSA encryption. | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 17:12 | comment | added | Tony | If I was the government and I planned on monitoring you, I would do hardware mods that would exist even after a reformat. Might want to visually inspect your circuit boards and such for any funky soldering or chips that look out of place.. | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 16:32 | answer | added | Byron Jones | timeline score: 2 | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 16:15 | answer | added | Falco | timeline score: 1 | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 11:08 | answer | added | GreatSeaSpider | timeline score: 0 | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 9:02 | comment | added | Celeritas | This is why there should be an off site backup hanselman.com/blog/TheComputerBackupRuleOfThree.aspx | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 8:52 | comment | added | mostlyinformed | ...almost certainly have little to worry about. If, on the other hand, you're a security software developer for a start-up that's working on a next-gen IDS or something the practical risk might (maybe, possibly) be non-negligible. And if you're a malware-developer-for-hire just coming back from a trip to northern Pakistan... well, you get the point. (Deliberately extreme example.) | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 8:43 | comment | added | mostlyinformed | I get the impression you don't particularly want to disclose what sort of software that you were/are developing (which is certainly your right, and which I'm certainly aware that you could be doing for any number of 100% legitimate reasons). But I think any real, pragmatic answer has to take into account what motivations DHS might have for altering your source code, implanting malicious firmware, etc. Which necessarily depends on what they might see you as doing that would be worth the time/hassle. In other words, if you're a developer of casual games for smartphones you ... | |
| S Nov 13, 2015 at 8:36 | history | suggested | Giacomo1968 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
formatting
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| Nov 13, 2015 at 8:21 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Nov 13, 2015 at 8:36 | |||||
| Nov 13, 2015 at 5:45 | answer | added | Criticizing Israel not allowed | timeline score: 3 | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 2:29 | comment | added | Freedo | Do you care if other people access this code ? You can find people that would love to reverse enginner your laptops to expose another U.S scandal ( " U.S has been planting malware on tourists eletronic devices "). Maybe this could teach a thing or two to the US | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 1:40 | comment | added | user2338816 | As noted by @Jeroen-ITNerdbox, firmware can be compromised. But then, that's a problem for all of us anyway. What do you expect to replace your equipment with that's as trustworthy as you seem to want? Why are you particularly concerned? (Other than the overall concern shared by most of us.) | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 1:34 | comment | added | Simon Richter | If they installed anything in/on your computer, and you or someone else is able to find it, this would be an excellent opportunity to leak it. | |
| Nov 13, 2015 at 0:18 | answer | added | piers7 | timeline score: 6 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 23:08 | answer | added | John B. Lambe | timeline score: 1 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 21:58 | comment | added | n00b | Save the text of your source code into seperate text files then trash the system. | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 21:42 | comment | added | reirab | @Iszi Depends on your definition of 'legal,' I guess. The U.S. Constitution hasn't changed since 9/11 and it explicitly states that such is illegal, regardless of what any other law may say. Just because a law hasn't been ruled unconstitutional yet doesn't mean it isn't unconstitutional. Of course, rights for non-citizens can be significantly different, but OP seems to be referring to the U.S. as home, so I assumed he/she was a citizen. | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 21:30 | comment | added | Iszi | @reirab Generally, your statement would be true. However, recent (post-9/11) laws in the U.S. make things a bit fuzzier at the border. Essentially, if you're traveling into/out of the U.S. (most especially into, and quite especially if you're not a citizen), assume that your possessions and electronic devices are legally vulnerable to search and seizure by border authorities. Such cases are relatively rare, especially those involving seizures of such duration as this one, but it's far from unheard of. | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 21:22 | comment | added | reirab | In addition to the security steps, I would talk to an attorney. If this doesn't constitute unreasonable search and seizure, I can't imagine what would. Such is illegal without probable cause of a crime having been committed. | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 21:13 | answer | added | Joshua | timeline score: 2 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 20:06 | history | edited | user91785 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 12, 2015 at 20:01 | answer | added | Dragonel | timeline score: 28 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 19:25 | answer | added | Iszi | timeline score: 76 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 19:19 | answer | added | Herringbone Cat | timeline score: 37 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 19:14 | review | Close votes | |||
| Nov 13, 2015 at 20:34 | |||||
| Nov 12, 2015 at 19:13 | answer | added | Ohnana | timeline score: 18 | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:51 | history | edited | user91785 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 404 characters in body
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| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:37 | comment | added | Jeroen | Well, I would burn it and start with a new one by buying one in a shop and not order it online. Then again, I'm just paranoid. Firmware's can be modified, especially the ones on hard drives, BIOS, video cards etc. | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:34 | comment | added | Mike Ounsworth | The obvious answer is: format everything and re-install. Though that won't protect you if they've modified the motherboard. More detailed suggestions (if any) will likely depend on what operating system you are running (I assume Windows?), the hardware of the laptop, do you have backups at home of all the data (ie buy a new laptop and take the backup data?) | |
| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:13 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:34 | |||||
| Nov 12, 2015 at 18:09 | history | asked | user91785 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |