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Cryogenically frozen RAM bypasses all disk encryption methods


Summary: Computer encryption technologies have all relied on one key assumption that RAM (Random Access Memory) is volatile and that all content is lost when power is lost. That key assumption is now being fundamentally challenged with a can of compressed air and it’s enough to give every security professional heart burn. We all had [...]



Computer encryption technologies have all relied on one key assumption that RAM (Random Access Memory) is volatile and that all content is lost when power is lost. That key assumption is now being fundamentally challenged with a  can of compressed air and it’s enough to give every security professional heart burn.
We all had some theoretical concerns, but surely it would be too difficult to transport hot memory from one computer to another to extract its contents right? That’s what we all thought until a group of researchers from Princeton Universityshowed that memory wasn’t as volatile as we had all assumed (see Techmeme). As a matter of fact, memory would hold its contents for a duration of seconds or even minutes with the power cut off. If that wasn’t long enough, a can of compressed air used upside down will cryogenically freeze memory and keep the data intact for several minutes to an hours. This means the ultrasensitive encryption keys used to protect data can be exposed in

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