Personal Defense
Personal Defense, or "fucko", threads are dedicated to personal defense against LEA (Law Enforcement Agencies) kicking your door in and storming into your bedroom before you read the period on the end of this sentence. They talk about data encryption, OPSEC, and how to not get fucked if (we all know when) LEA kicks that door.
On /g/ and /tech/, fucko threads are created pretty much weekly. On /tech/ they are up constantly. If there isn't an existing fucko thread on either board, please start a new one with this template.
Preparedness
As Snowden said, encryption works. Full disk encryption is your first stop for anti-fucko. With GNU/Linux dm-crypt, running a shutdown script will unmount encrypted drives and overwrite the encryption keys in memory. Be aware that in many countries failing to disclose your encryption keys is a criminal offence. Whether the punishment for failing to give up your key is worse than your charges is another question.
- UK Police don't kick your door in;
- The Dread Pirate Roberts bust happened with his laptop open;
- Hiding your laptop in a dishrack doesn't work.
Reaction
- Press the power button on your computer to shut it down.
If there is anything else you can think of, you will not have time to react to it.
Do not say a word to the police. For example, acknowledging that there are files of interest on your electronic devices supersedes your Fifth Amendment rights in the United States under the "foregone conclusion" principle; you would be legally compelled to decrypt your encrypted storage.
Classic Reaction
On destroying your hard drive/SSD:
- Microwaves
- Thermite
- Power drills
This is all stupid. At best it's destroying evidence. At worst (power drills) you keep 1% of your data away from forensics experts, and you won't have time for any of it in a raid. Most power drills aren't strong enough anyway to cut through a hard drive and into the platter without first removing the case.
