Technology News

**TimSchroeder** · 02-06-2007, 04:10 AM

An anonymous reader writes "The Register is running a story called 'Vista encryption 'no threat' to computer forensics'. The article explains that despite some initial concerns that lawbreakers would benefit from built-in strong encryption, it's unlikely the Bitlocker technology will slow down most digital forensic analysts. What kind of measures does one need to take to make sure no one but yourself has access to your data? Is Bitlocker just good enough (keeping out your siblings) or does it miss the whole purpose of the encryption entirely?" One would hope an international criminal mastermind could do better than the encryption built into Vista.

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**ForrestCroce** · 02-06-2007, 10:27 PM

PGP will keep the forensics experts away from your data, but that ignores a couple of things:

If the police, prosecutor, or a judge thinks there's important secrets in your computer, they can compel you to tell them the password, and hold you in jail until you do.
After building an encrypted copy of your data, you need to deal with the plaintext version. One of the ex-mayors in prison for kiddie porn used one of those $50 evidence eliminator programs to delete and wipe files; an electron microscope had no trouble recovering the data.

Is the new Windows encryption secure? I have no idea, haven't looked into it. But I get the idea they're more interested in protecting a corporate worker who's laptop gets stolen.