Securing laptop, smartphone, social media accounts and other apps

[Oblivion]

Well i kinda have a good idea how to do this, but can the police hack my laptop windows 8 password?
i will surely remove my fingerprint from the smartphone, but what about the pin, can they hack that too?
i will disconnect my phone number from my emails and social media accounts so that they don't have access to anything personal.
what other measures should i do? are there other ways they can hack my personal things?

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

Nothing particularly damning on any of my devices, but my laptop is LUKS-encrypted and runs Linux.

 

[dreamsofdestruction]

Not sure what situation exactly you're afraid of here? Will someone be able to track you down for posting here? Will someone be able to get at your data after you're gone?

 

[Longman]

Well i kinda have a good idea how to do this, but can the police hack my laptop windows 8 password?

AFAIK, if you do not use disk encryption, there is no need to hack your password: they can "reset" it and use your account, or they can boot another OS from CD/USB stick and get access to data on your drive.

 

[chrijo]

Nothing particularly damning on any of my devices, but my laptop is LUKS-encrypted and runs Linux.

That's the best thing you can do. Encrypt everything with a strong password. If they really want your data, they'll try the brute-force-method but with a strong password - no chance.

They can't hack your SIM-PIN, but if they have the serial number of your SIMcard, they can request the PUK code from your provider.

I only need 5 minutes to bypass a windows password easily. Don't trust Windows, never :D

 

[Oblivion]

Not sure what situation exactly you're afraid of here? Will someone be able to track you down for posting here? Will someone be able to get at your data after you're gone?

Yes, don't want anyone to find this website and i don't want them to see my personal files and what if i failed? it would be a much much bigger problem, so yeh i really need to seal off any possible access to my devices

AFAIK, if you do not use disk encryption, there is no need to hack your password: they can "reset" it and use your account, or they can boot another OS from CD/USB stick and get access to data on your drive.

they can boot another os on a USB and enter my specific user files?? im not talking about what's stored in C:/, i'm talking about whats stored on my user desktop and documents folder, which are not in the C drive but on my user, is that possible they can see them?

That's the best thing you can do. Encrypt everything with a strong password. If they really want your data, they'll try the brute-force-method but with a strong password - no chance.

They can't hack your SIM-PIN, but if they have the serial number of your SIMcard, they can request the PUK code from your provider.

I only need 5 minutes to bypass a windows password easily. Don't trust Windows, never :D

how can i encrypt my laptop and phone?
how can you bypass a windows password in 5 minutes anyway?

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

@chrijo: My LUKS password is 50 characters of utter nonsense (no idea how the hell I keep that memorized...) and it's got something like a 2048-bit RSA key on it. Suffice it to say, if every single atom in the universe were a transistor, said universe would undergo heat death--or proton decay, if that's a thing--before they brute-forced that bad girl :)

@Oblivion: I have a lot of IT background. First thing they teach you about security is that, absent some kind of incredibly strong encryption, physical access to the data storage medium is game over. Even if you delete the data, all that does is "unlink" it from the filesystem; the record of its existence is erased in the Master File Table (Windows) or inode table (*nix and I believe OS X), but the data itself is still there. Easily recoverable with tools like Photorec. Even if the drive is formatted, actually formatted rather than a "quick format" which just writes a new MFT/inode table + superblocks, it can still be reliably recovered.

If you want to destroy your data, you're going to need to do something really drastic. Look for "ATA Secure Erase guide" or so on Google; this will require you to burn a bootable Linux live medium on CD or flash it onto a USB stick. And it can take ages, especially for a slow spinning-platter disk.

 

[TowerUpright]

One thing I do is have a bootable Flash Drive that contains my "computer". I can plug it into any unlocked-down computer and boot to the flash drive. It gives me a Linux distro that doesn't store anything on the Flash Drive. ANYONE who takes it can boot it up and see a fresh system of Kali Linux. You CAN set it to save to the flash drive, so you can install other programs as well, but keep in mind, someone could theoretically see what you have installed.

Search for "Bootable USB Linux" for a ton of walkthroughs. Alternatively, you could try Windows as well (haven't tried it). Forget Macs - they don't support this that I know of (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[chrijo]

how can i encrypt my laptop and phone?
how can you bypass a windows password in 5 minutes anyway?

Try "bypass windows password" in YouTube. You'll be surprised :D

For example, you can encrypt your laptop with VeraCrypt. Your phone can also be encrypted depending on your operating system.

 

[dreamsofdestruction]

You can encrypt your stuff, but if you were to kick the bucket, you might as well wipe it all? For a phone it's trivial, they all have functions for factory resetting them.

 

[Longman]

they can boot another os on a USB and enter my specific user files??

You can test it yourself using some Linux (for example Ubuntu) bootable USB stick without installing (in live mode). Desktop files are located by default in C:\Users\<your account name>\Desktop\ (though in Linux file manager your disks may not have an assigned letter).

 

[Crystal Labeija]

Why do you think the police would want to hack your computer?

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

Evidence gathering. They likely treat a suicide like a homicide, at least in the sense that they'll want to be doing some discovery on it. If you're trying to erase data, the ATA Secure Erase function is the absolute least one can do to be sure; more surefire methods include destruction of the drive by fire, putting the platters in a degaussing coil, or running them through a metal shredder.

Solid-state devices are a bit trickier, because the flash-translation layer does internal, private mapping of data to individual blocks of flash; even the ATA Secure Erase is vendor-dependent, so there's no ironclad guarantee it'll work, as what it usually does is just drop the internal encryption key rendering the data inaccessible.

 

[jake3d]

My browser's in private mode when i post here, and there are no other weird things on my desktop. My suicide note will be delivered by a friend via facebook, and all accounts will be logged out before I go, so there will not be much to find.

The sad part is that my best friend here works at the legal medicine institute (thankfully not as a coroner though), but he will likely be the first to know, as i won't take my ID with me.

 

[riverstyx]

Best thing would be to have a trusted person dispose of all storage media after death.

Personally I have lots of drives so before I CTB I could just destroy the drives physically and make sure they were disposed of. Breaking the circuit board or the data connector port on the drive would suffice.

I'm a bit of a stickler though so I wouldn't want to destroy all my data before I'm actually dead.

The option then becomes encryption.

I haven't used veracrypt myself but I would maybe use that to do a full disk encryption to all my drives. That would take days I would imagine, but then at least you're reasonably safe from prying eyes.

And don't forget the password

 

[throwaway777]

im sorry for my stupidity idk a lot about these things but i was thinking of just closing all my accounts, emails etc.. then formatting my pc ..would that be enough to prevent someone from reading what i was doing in my normal days ? i mean i dont think police will waste their time for that .. it will be obviously a suicide but my parents always see me on the computer and they tell me that im depressed bc i talk to people who tell me to kill myself on the internet so i think when i die they would want to search for a site like this and maybe ask the police to do that so they can blame someone else when its just my choice to end everything

 

[jake3d]

Wipe the drive using DBAN, normal formatting can be recovered fairly easily. I work in the data recovery field.

 

[throwaway777]

Wipe the drive using DBAN, normal formatting can be recovered fairly easily. I work in the data recovery field.

thank u .. so if i use that DBAN i should be kinda okay ..?

 

[jake3d]

Yes, DBAN overwrites the data several times, there is no way you're gonna get anything out of it. Not even the NSA can, forget what you saw in the movies. Once you've overwritten the whole drive, the magnetic field has changed, the data is gone forever.

 

[throwaway777]

Yes, DBAN overwrites the data several times, there is no way you're gonna get anything out of it. Not even the NSA can, forget what you saw in the movies. Once you've overwritten the whole drive, the magnetic field has changed, the data is gone forever.

thank u so much for the information ..mm im sorry to bother u again but so if i was to use DBAN and then delete my things , could i format my computer anyway and then leave it to my sister as her new pc ? or would it be gone forever?

 

[jake3d]

Electrically or physically damaging the board of the hard drive will certainly not be enough though. Even setting it on fire may be recoverable. If you definitely don't want your data to be seen, either open the drive up and drill through the platters it or wipe it with DBAN.

EDIT: If you use DBAN the drive will basically be like a new, empty drive. So yes your sister will be able to use it.

 

[throwaway777]

Electrically or physically damaging the board of the hard drive will certainly not be enough though. Even setting it on fire may be recoverable. If you definitely don't want your data to be seen, either open the drive up and drill through the platters it or wipe it with DBAN.

EDIT: If you use DBAN the drive will basically be like a new, empty drive. So yes your sister will be able to use it.

thank u so much ! could i pm u in the next days to ask u something else about the same topic since u seem expert please?

 

[jake3d]

Yes sure. I won't be dead for another week or so.

 

[GeorgeJL]

Well i kinda have a good idea how to do this, but can the police hack my laptop windows 8 password?
i will surely remove my fingerprint from the smartphone, but what about the pin, can they hack that too?
i will disconnect my phone number from my emails and social media accounts so that they don't have access to anything personal.
what other measures should i do? are there other ways they can hack my personal things?

Unless you use veracrypt to encrypt your whole hard drive that has windows 8 on it and then turn it off before CTB the police will be able to get into it. My brother was a hacker and got his bachelors in computer science so I would know.

Also for your phone you would have to encrypt that too and turn it off. And yeah taking your finger print off was a good idea.

Oh and use a long password if possible. Otherwise they might be able to brute force it.

 

[Oblivion]

What about programs like winrar? can i store my data inside one with a very strong password? would they be able to crack that?

Unless you use veracrypt to encrypt your whole hard drive that has windows 8 on it and then turn it off before CTB the police will be able to get into it. My brother was a hacker and got his bachelors in computer science so I would know.

Also for your phone you would have to encrypt that too and turn it off. And yeah taking your finger print off was a good idea.

Oh and use a long password if possible. Otherwise they might be able to brute force it.

what happens to the data when i encrypt that? would they become corrupt? would i be able to decrypt them normally?

 

[Imgonnahangmyself]

Well I'm gonna factory reset my phone and destroy my SIM card before I kill myself.

 

[GeorgeJL]

What about programs like winrar? can i store my data inside one with a very strong password? would they be able to crack that?

what happens to the data when i encrypt that? would they become corrupt? would i be able to decrypt them normally?

I wouldn't mess with winrar. I found a youtube video that shows how you can a crack winrar password.

You should have no problem decrypting your information as long as you remember your password. The only time it becomes corrupt is if let's say the drive is starting to fail or a virus messes it up.

I think to use veracrypt for your whole hard drive you will have to set startup in bios to legacy mode from what I remember.

To be extra cautious I would research the encrypting algorithm that you want to use to make sure that the NSA (national security agency) hasn't cracked it. I think most of them are OK, but if anyone has figured it out it would be them. Whistle blower Edward Snowden has revealed a bunch of stuff about the NSA so that helps.

 

[Longman]

What about programs like winrar? can i store my data inside one with a very strong password? would they be able to crack that?

You can, and they won't crack it if your password is strong. But encrypted containers (created by Veracrypt/Truecrypt/other similar software) are better in your case. There is a problem with archives: to work with some file from your archive, you have to extract this file on the disk (or it is extracted by a program in which you want to process this file). Even after deletion, this extracted file can be recovered with "undelete" utilities (if it was not overwritten with other data).

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

@throwaway777: heads up, DBAN is not intended for solid-state devices. Make sure you have a spinning-platter hard drive if you want to use it; if you have an SSD, you'll want to issue it the ATA Secure Erase routine, and these are not always trustworthy on SSDs because the implementation is vendor-specific.

 

[throwaway777]

@throwaway777: heads up, DBAN is not intended for solid-state devices. Make sure you have a spinning-platter hard drive if you want to use it; if you have an SSD, you'll want to issue it the ATA Secure Erase routine, and these are not always trustworthy on SSDs because the implementation is vendor-specific.

hey thank u.. how can i know if i have a spinning platter hard drive or an ssd? can u help me?
edit: okay i searched on google and found that my pc has a hdd sorry hehe