5 ms·

Speaking of which, I have a computer with a locked screensaver which I've forgotten the password for. If anyone in the vicinity of Boston knows how to do a cold

Speaking of which, I have a computer with a locked screensaver which I've forgotten the password for. If anyone in the vicinity of Boston knows how to do a cold-boot attack and is interested in practicing on it, please get in touch. :-) It doesn't really matter if the process fails, it would just be nice to regain access, and it would be interesting to learn how to do it.

eximius 8y ago
Is the hard drive encrypted? If not, just take it out and... You're done.
- AlexCoventry 8y ago
  Yes, otherwise it would be simple.
Filligree 8y ago
Does it have memory encryption enabled? Or even an IOMMU? Does it boot on its own, without entering a password? I'm on the wrong side of the ocean, alas, but I'm betting this won't be too hard to crack.
- AlexCoventry 8y ago
  Regarding the hardware questions, I don't know. FWIW, it's a Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK. It does have FDE, and requires a password on boot for that.
  - Filligree 8y ago
    So, hang on. Do you know the FDE password? If so, just take the disk out and plop it in another machine and-- you're done. If not, then no cold-boot attack can possibly work.
    - AlexCoventry 8y ago
      No, I don't. The laptop was in suspend-mode for long enough that I forgot the password. It's been on a power supply since, to keep it from turning off. I can get it to a screensaver, and that's it, so far.
      - Filligree 8y ago
        That makes everything much harder. You know that, I suppose. You'll have to crack it by using FireWire or a similar method that lets you read/alter memory, or by opening it up and connecting probes directly to main memory. I have no problem telling you that the latter would be harder. I certainly would not be able to do either.
        Filligree 8y ago
        And to clarify, since you mentioned cold boot attacks earlier -- yes, that could work, but there's also a very good chance that it clears memory during BIOS initialization.
      - jki275 8y ago
        https://github.com/carmaa/inception https://github.com/carmaa/inception This tool could help you, possibly.
        AlexCoventry 8y ago
        Awesome, thanks.
rlpb 8y ago
Is it installing security updates? If not (you could even force it by disconnecting its Internet connection), then there's a good chance an exploit has already been discovered that you can use. This is probably easier than a cold boot attack.
- AlexCoventry 8y ago
  No, it's not. Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds like something I could take a crack at myself.

eximius 8y ago

Is the hard drive encrypted? If not, just take it out and... You're done.

AlexCoventry 8y ago
Yes, otherwise it would be simple.

Filligree 8y ago

Does it have memory encryption enabled? Or even an IOMMU? Does it boot on its own, without entering a password? I'm on the wrong side of the ocean, alas, but I'm betting this won't be too hard to crack.

AlexCoventry 8y ago
Regarding the hardware questions, I don't know. FWIW, it's a Dell Inspiron i3531-1200BK. It does have FDE, and requires a password on boot for that.
- Filligree 8y ago
  So, hang on. Do you know the FDE password? If so, just take the disk out and plop it in another machine and-- you're done. If not, then no cold-boot attack can possibly work.
  - AlexCoventry 8y ago
    No, I don't. The laptop was in suspend-mode for long enough that I forgot the password. It's been on a power supply since, to keep it from turning off. I can get it to a screensaver, and that's it, so far.
    - Filligree 8y ago
      That makes everything much harder. You know that, I suppose. You'll have to crack it by using FireWire or a similar method that lets you read/alter memory, or by opening it up and connecting probes directly to main memory. I have no problem telling you that the latter would be harder. I certainly would not be able to do either.
      - Filligree 8y ago
        And to clarify, since you mentioned cold boot attacks earlier -- yes, that could work, but there's also a very good chance that it clears memory during BIOS initialization.
    - jki275 8y ago
      https://github.com/carmaa/inception https://github.com/carmaa/inception This tool could help you, possibly.
      - AlexCoventry 8y ago
        Awesome, thanks.

rlpb 8y ago

Is it installing security updates? If not (you could even force it by disconnecting its Internet connection), then there's a good chance an exploit has already been discovered that you can use. This is probably easier than a cold boot attack.

AlexCoventry 8y ago
No, it's not. Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds like something I could take a crack at myself.