5 ms·

Wouldn't it make sense to remove the battery on your laptop entirely? With a modified magsafe-like power cord any attempt to grab the machine hard-kills the sys

by zionic 5y ago

Wouldn't it make sense to remove the battery on your laptop entirely? With a modified magsafe-like power cord any attempt to grab the machine hard-kills the system and RAM begins degrading immediately. Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker long enough to prevent freezing the RAM with compressed air to try and dump RAM via an exploit kit.

gruez 5y ago
>Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker... Might as well go all in and epoxy the ram sticks/dimm slot assembly.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Would it cause overheating?
  - gruez 5y ago
    You don't have to douse the whole thing with expoxy. The dimm assembly looks like this: https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/dpYyM4oeOLPPTdpF.huge https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/dpYyM4oeOLPPTdpF.hug... Putting epoxy around the top and bottom edges (where the retention clips are) and the right edge (where the contacts are) should make it extremely difficult to dislodge, but not impact the thermal performance of the chips (the black rectangles).
- dotancohen 5y ago
  Aren't they already soldered in place in modern laptops?
  - doubled112 5y ago
    Many laptops but not all laptops. I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable. Drives me crazy because then you end up with more RAM but less performance, so have to choose which hit is worse.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable nah, that applies to many mid to high range laptops as well, eg. 14" thinkpads has had 1 soldered 1 removable dimm for years now.
pmorici 5y ago
Devices to transfer from wall power to battery backup for transport have existed for a long time. https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/ https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/
- remram 5y ago
  TIL. Found a demo on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq4TO_a3z8&t=3m39s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq4TO_a3z8&t=3m39s
- dehrmann 5y ago
  Seinfeld had a "rogue electrician" named Slippery Pete who could do this.
- Doxin 5y ago
  I always wonder if you could make a similar device work for EU plugs. You can't wiggle a EU plug out an 8th of an inch and have exposed line voltage, so I imagine you'd need some sort of trick to make it work.
  - qwaxys 5y ago
    It's easier then you think. For anything with more than one socket, you just plug in a second cable into a free socket, once the phases are synced up unplug the extension cord or cut the socket free. For singular sockets straight into the wall, unscrew, clip on connectors with a V shaped knife and same as above. Although when I was working we usually would take images onsite before even considering moving the devices. It's definitely not bullet proof but I've set up my laptop to lock when Ethernet or the monitor is unplugged or any new USB device is plugged in. This stops most but not all live imaging.
tarboreus 5y ago
I think the idea is that you might only have about a second to kill the device. Yes, you can throw your computer in a bathtub of saltwater or whatever but that's not really the point.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  You better make sure that 'tampering with evidence' carries a lower penalty than the thing that you're trying to hide.
  - ozfive 5y ago
    How can you be charged with tampering with evidence by epoxying your ram dimms? It's not as though you tampered with the device after the confiscation. Intent is also hard to prove on such a thing. I didn't want my dimms to fall out at any time if the machine was dropped is pretty good plausible deniability.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Thinking that you are smarter than the judge you will appear before is not a strategy I would recommend.
Mandatum 5y ago
You freeze the whole laptop.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
A lot of laptops either refuse to run or heavily throttle while running without internal battery. I know pretty much all Mac portables do it. Basically the internal battery is used as a buffer for power peaks. So the laptop can use more than the adaptor can provide for a short time. If it didn't throttle it would become unstable.

by zionic 5y ago

gruez 5y ago

>Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker... Might as well go all in and epoxy the ram sticks/dimm slot assembly.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
Would it cause overheating?
- gruez 5y ago
  You don't have to douse the whole thing with expoxy. The dimm assembly looks like this: https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/dpYyM4oeOLPPTdpF.huge https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/dpYyM4oeOLPPTdpF.hug... Putting epoxy around the top and bottom edges (where the retention clips are) and the right edge (where the contacts are) should make it extremely difficult to dislodge, but not impact the thermal performance of the chips (the black rectangles).
dotancohen 5y ago
Aren't they already soldered in place in modern laptops?
- doubled112 5y ago
  Many laptops but not all laptops. I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable. Drives me crazy because then you end up with more RAM but less performance, so have to choose which hit is worse.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable nah, that applies to many mid to high range laptops as well, eg. 14" thinkpads has had 1 soldered 1 removable dimm for years now.

pmorici 5y ago

Devices to transfer from wall power to battery backup for transport have existed for a long time. https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/ https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/

remram 5y ago
TIL. Found a demo on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq4TO_a3z8&t=3m39s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erq4TO_a3z8&t=3m39s
dehrmann 5y ago
Seinfeld had a "rogue electrician" named Slippery Pete who could do this.
Doxin 5y ago
I always wonder if you could make a similar device work for EU plugs. You can't wiggle a EU plug out an 8th of an inch and have exposed line voltage, so I imagine you'd need some sort of trick to make it work.
- qwaxys 5y ago
  It's easier then you think. For anything with more than one socket, you just plug in a second cable into a free socket, once the phases are synced up unplug the extension cord or cut the socket free. For singular sockets straight into the wall, unscrew, clip on connectors with a V shaped knife and same as above. Although when I was working we usually would take images onsite before even considering moving the devices. It's definitely not bullet proof but I've set up my laptop to lock when Ethernet or the monitor is unplugged or any new USB device is plugged in. This stops most but not all live imaging.

tarboreus 5y ago

I think the idea is that you might only have about a second to kill the device. Yes, you can throw your computer in a bathtub of saltwater or whatever but that's not really the point.

jacquesm 5y ago
You better make sure that 'tampering with evidence' carries a lower penalty than the thing that you're trying to hide.
- ozfive 5y ago
  How can you be charged with tampering with evidence by epoxying your ram dimms? It's not as though you tampered with the device after the confiscation. Intent is also hard to prove on such a thing. I didn't want my dimms to fall out at any time if the machine was dropped is pretty good plausible deniability.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Thinking that you are smarter than the judge you will appear before is not a strategy I would recommend.

Mandatum 5y ago

You freeze the whole laptop.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

A lot of laptops either refuse to run or heavily throttle while running without internal battery. I know pretty much all Mac portables do it. Basically the internal battery is used as a buffer for power peaks. So the laptop can use more than the adaptor can provide for a short time. If it didn't throttle it would become unstable.