Written by: Matthew Hile 3/3/2008 3:22 PM
According to this NY Times article bad guys can get encrypted data out your computer by reading keys from the DRAM chips. This original report demonstrated that decryption data does remain in these dynamic chips for some time after the computer has been turned off and that chilling those chips will extend that period of time. So what does this mean practically? Perhaps there are other ways, but off hand what I can envision is: You are rushed by bad guys (take for example Jack Bauer) while you are using the computer and reading your encrypted data. You quickly unplug it but your assailants are able to open the computer and chill the chips before they loose their stored information. It seems to me that in this case you are in trouble no matter what. So, unless there is some other way this might work I am not going to worry about it.
According to this NY Times article bad guys can get encrypted data out your computer by reading keys from the DRAM chips. This original report demonstrated that decryption data does remain in these dynamic chips for some time after the computer has been turned off and that chilling those chips will extend that period of time.
So what does this mean practically? Perhaps there are other ways, but off hand what I can envision is:
You are rushed by bad guys (take for example Jack Bauer) while you are using the computer and reading your encrypted data. You quickly unplug it but your assailants are able to open the computer and chill the chips before they loose their stored information.
It seems to me that in this case you are in trouble no matter what. So, unless there is some other way this might work I am not going to worry about it.
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