Department of paranoia:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/20/el...l_decrypts_pgp/PGP, TrueCrypt-encrypted files CRACKED by £300 toolPlod at the door? Better yank out that power cable
By John Leyden • Get more from this author
Posted in Security, 20th December 2012 14:02 GMT
ElcomSoft has built a utility that forages for encryption keys in snapshots of a PC's memory to decrypt PGP and TrueCrypt-protected data.
Forensic Disk Decryptor attempts to unlock information stored in disks and volumes encrypted by BitLocker, PGP or TrueCrypt.
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Normally, the unencrypted content of these data containers is impossible to retrieve without knowing the original passphrase used to encrypt the volume. Vladimir Katalov, chief exec of ElcomSoft, said
encryption technology, in the right conditions, can be circumvented thanks to human laziness:
The main and only weakness of crypto containers is human factor. Weak passwords aside, encrypted volumes must be mounted for the user to have on-the-fly access to encrypted data.
No one likes typing their long, complex passwords every time they need to read or write a file. As a result, keys used to encrypt and decrypt data that’s being written or read from protected volumes are kept readily accessible in the computer’s operating memory.
Obviously, what’s kept readily accessible can be retrieved near instantly by a third-party tool.