The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a timely article for the holidays: "Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices". In it, you'll find a number of recommendations and explanations regarding travel from and to the US, including: Why and how the US government searches devices What issues to consider when protecting data Why backups are important And other issues. Among the tips: the use of encryption software to protect sensitive data.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a timely article for the holidays: "Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices". In it, you'll find a number of recommendations and explanations regarding travel from and to the US, including:
And other issues. Among the tips: the use of encryption software to protect sensitive data.
EFF starts off the section on encryption by noting that disk encryption software protects your data if your computer is lost or stolen, so "it's a useful precaution even for people who plan to cooperate completely with border agents' requests for assistance in inspecting devices." Personally, I'd say it's an odd thing to point out since encryption software was not developed as a way to stymie border agents.... Its purpose, after all, is securing data and not securing data against border agents. Anyhow, the section quickly breaks into a number of issues to consider when using encryption. Account passwords vs. full-disk encryption. How they differ. How password-protection can be bypassed. Choosing disk encryption over file encryption. Why whole disk encryption is preferable over protecting individual files. How to choose a secure password. Or, rather, passphrase. EFF notes that built a device to crack passwords in 1999. It could try 2^56 possibilities in under three days. This means passwords of nine-letters or less could be compromised in less than a week. The contents of encryption section are not too different from the issues and observations found on this blog. They are, however, consolidated in one nice article. The entire article is a very good read -- not just the section on encryption -- and the list of recommendations and tips, while some might consider them commonsense, are a timely and good reminder of what to do (and not to do) if you'll be traveling during the holidays.
EFF starts off the section on encryption by noting that disk encryption software protects your data if your computer is lost or stolen, so "it's a useful precaution even for people who plan to cooperate completely with border agents' requests for assistance in inspecting devices." Personally, I'd say it's an odd thing to point out since encryption software was not developed as a way to stymie border agents.... Its purpose, after all, is securing data and not securing data against border agents.
Anyhow, the section quickly breaks into a number of issues to consider when using encryption.
The contents of encryption section are not too different from the issues and observations found on this blog. They are, however, consolidated in one nice article.
The entire article is a very good read -- not just the section on encryption -- and the list of recommendations and tips, while some might consider them commonsense, are a timely and good reminder of what to do (and not to do) if you'll be traveling during the holidays.
Related Articles and Sites:https://www.eff.org/wp/defending-privacy-us-border-guide-travelers-carrying-digital-devices