We have disk drive that encrypt with BitLocker. My key is lost, and we haven't any backup of the data. Is there any way to hack or crack and recover our data?
-
2Was the key randomly generated, or derived from a password? Where was the key stored: in a TPM? in a Windows installation somewhere (and if so, did you make backups of that)? – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Jan 2 '13 at 13:57
Unlikely. It's AES-CBC-128, so there's no chance of you cracking the key.
There are a few tools (e.g. Volatility, or Elcomsoft's forensics suite) that can recover the master key from a system memory dump, but that only works if the drive is already mounted and unlocked.
-
6Properly designed encryption has no backdoors and no recourse upon loss of the key. Exercise the 100% hindsight gained and do backups in future. – Fiasco Labs Jan 3 '13 at 5:01
-
1Or even just backup the volume key with a recovery password, which is one of the first things that BitLocker asks you to do for safety. – Polynomial Jan 3 '13 at 6:49
-
I'm one of those belt'n suspenders type guys that finds both to be a really good idea. – Fiasco Labs Jan 4 '13 at 3:04
-
2