We've seen some interesting computer forensics gear from WiebeTech before, like the
Mouse Jiggler USB key that prevents a system from locking the screen or going to sleep by subtly shaking the mouse cursor, and the company's latest addition to the investigator's toolkit, the HotPlug LT, solves an equally basic problem: how to move a desktop without powering it down. The HotPlug allows cops to seize machines without powering them down by switching power to a UPS, using some interesting power-management voodoo. The investigator simply plugs the HotPlug into the computer's powerstrip, and then unplugs the strip and plugs it into the UPS -- and takes the whole system away. If the machine is plugged directly into the wall, WiebeTech also has options for directly piercing the power cable or hijacking the outlet itself. Bottom line: the Man's getting your machine, like it or not. Peep a vid of the HotPlug in action after the break.
posted Nov 6th 2007 1:19PM
This was very interesting, but it's not mobile news.
I mean, it kinda is, since you.. er, i mean the cops can take your computer with them.
But, there was no mention of the Iphone, so it's not mobile news.
Dude, I think you're in the wrong place, not the article...
As for the technology, I'd like to learn more about piercing power cables. Juicy...
the admin moved the article this morning and didnt delete my comment.
this story originally showed up in Engadget Mobile.
Does it come with your very own Chris Hansen, too???
that's great, i hate shutting down my pc when i go to a lan party ...
Don't use a power strip. Get a whole house supresser.
Problem solved. Continue illegal acivities.
or just use ssd with a switch allowing you to redirect the energy from the grid directly to the disk: all the data should be gone forever since it's not magnetic ^_^...
Did you even watch the video dumbass? He just showed you how to do it without a power strip. They can take the whole outlet with them.
So now, the high-tech way of securing your data requires you to use a non-standard cable, where the green is hot, white is ground, and black is neutral. Voila!
Of course, that would be easily bypassed by a standard inductive current sensor... Thus [strikeout]begins[/strikeout] continues the digital arms race!
...Shit.
George Costanza could've really used this when moving his Frogger machine from the pizza parlor.
That was my first thought.
LMAO, so true.
HOLES! I NEED HOLES!
Or just set up a motion trigger for a thermite mixture inside a pseudo optical drive and it won't matter if the thing has power or not. Evidence gone!
If a technician is just going to move the case for later study, they aren't about to open the case for any reason.
1. Thermite is hard to light, such a setup could easily fail, and then you get even MORE convictions!
2. Enjoy your arson charges!
I'd love to see how long that setup works in the local meth lab.
You cant get arson charges for your own things if its not insured.
Im pretty sure that there are restrictions on thermite though.
All you need to do is give fair warning to whoever comes to your door. "Don't touch my property." If someone gets injured then all you have to say is "I warned you." You can sue them for destroying your property.
Thermite is used in welding, so I don't really see an issue with private possession. It's like fertilizer. You can buy everything you need to produce very large explosions in a single hardware store. Your name might be added to a gov't list, but there's nothing they can do to incarcerate you.
You've never taken a law class in your life, have you?
Nothing beats a shredder,
http://www.semshred.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/1fa40d4e151e0485a1d8f9147a81ff38/full/harddrive_destruction_big.jpg
Or a Blendtec Blender.
The platter could still be reassembled and read. It's just a matter of time, and money.
The only way to get rid of HDD data is to melt the platter.
Or blend it... :D
So what happens if it isn;t plugged into a power strip and straight into the wall like a lot of people do. Kinda messes things up!
you should watch the video, or better yet, just read the article.
oWn3d!
So remember, folks, if you're engaged in potentially incriminating computer activity, make sure to add a crude and very basic low power RF controlled circuit breaker to the inside of the computer. Hide the weak transmitter unit nearby. If the computer is moved beyond the range of the transmitter, have the circuit breaker bridge the power switch. Or have it cut the power. Or have it divert 110-240V of power to the HDD. Your choice.
Hell, you could even use a motion sensor inside that does the same thing if it 'feels' like it's being moved. You could hide such a device anywhere in the case. Even in the PSU.
Some of you have thought about this for far too long.
Er, it didn't really take long.
I think its important to think about these things. I am currently a student in the digital forensics field and knowing that and checking for things such as those mentioned by Loonie are a great help. Also, being able to move the pc while still connected is great for off site "live" exams.
Actually, since it'll take them a little while to move your PC and since they're keeping it on for you, you should probably just rig the detector to trigger the hard drive overwrite procedure, so that by the time they start looking into what your hard drive contains it'll be clean as a whistle, lol.
and here i thought a ram-disk was the Ace up my sleeve.
Who wears a suit when hijacking a power outlet?
Weirdo.
Didn't see this - a link to the manufacturer's page:
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/HotPlug.php
VOODOO!
I saw this last week. Very cool and very impressive.
Or you can use gigabyte's ram-drive thing that lets you use your volatile RAM as an HDD.
Got incriminating evidence to hide? Cut the power to it or touch it.
And what's the point of the mouse jiggler? I always lock my PC before I even get up.
Excellent. So when they toss it into the back of the police car and drive back to the station and throw it around the whole way into the evidence room it will eventually head crash your drive(s). I've seen hard drives that are parked in computer cases go bad after a 30 min car ride... I can only imagine with them spun up how much damage a car ride would do.
Would that thing work if the computer you wanted to seize was running let say:
4 8800 gtx in quad sli
the most power hungry cpu you can find
8gb of ram
8 10k rpm disks
4 bd burners already burning something
a physx card
one of those network perf enhancing card
all that while running 3dmark06 and f@h
?
The idiot that's doing all that at the same time has other problems besides the police trying to confiscate his rig.
Depends on the size of the UPS. A system running all that might draw 3X the power of the regular system, but if the UPS is good for 2 hours and the station's ~30 minutes away you're still screwed.
Not to mention decent UPS's will show how long they have left to run and the cops can see it's going down rather fast and plug it into a 2nd ups, run it off an inverter in the car, whatever.
Well unfortunately most of the cops who will ever cease a computer, do not know shit about it.
When the cops ceased mine, I could tell they didn't know what the **** they were doing as they were working on unplugging everything.
They even admitted that they didn't know much about technology in general (in french, but I could understand).
The police had to seize your PC. That's great. You're a cool guy, I'm sure.
Exactly how is this useful? Why does the police have to have the computer on? Why not just shut it down? and take it?
For one thing, if it's shut down that will clear certain types of memory. Second, if the computer is logged in, turning it off will log it out. Plus active processes will cease running,etc, etc, etc
Boot password, maybe?
thanks for the info, do you mean like lime wire, file sharing? stuff like that?
I think that if you're doing some seriously badass stuff with your computer, you're A) going to be relying on more than the cops having to unplug your computer as security and B) going to be in a country where the cops don't really care
i just love the way he grips on to the metal shaft of the screwdriver before sticking it into a hot plug.
He was an electrician. Expect any less?
Just use these: http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/24/chemically-misting-hard-drives-and-other-remote-data-security/
"Configurable triggers such as removal or tampering of the drive, removal of device from a resting GPS point, cellular telephone call, or even a change in temperature will release a 'chemical mist' into the drive (not the computer) destroying it layer by layer."
btw the easiest way to get around this would be to rig your home outlet sockets to run at some crazy high voltage, and hide a voltage stepper into your computer's PSU so that it can take the higher voltage and step it down. Other than the need to use thicker gauge wiring it'd be pretty hard to tell.
That way when the cops attempt to plug their little device in, not only would it not provide enough power to keep your computer on, your super-juiced sockets will probably fry their device lol.
You wouldn't need to up the wire guage. You would if it were amperage, but not voltage. Think of voltage as pressure and amperage as flow. the more flow you want, the bigger bore you want. think of a pressure washer, the hose on mine is skinny, but the water will slice you open.
But cranking the voltage is always fun because you run the risk of fucking them over. All you'd need is a crazy transformer in your basement to do it too.
Just an aside here but if you were using these "crazy high voltages" you would actually be able to use higher gage (ie thinner) wire, albeit it would require better insulating which might or might not make the overall cables larger.
I do, however, think that any investigator smart enough to actually use a device like this would have sense enough to check the wiring before using it. It only takes about five seconds with a multimeter to avoid a catastrophe. I'm very surprised the instructions do not insist on it. I'm also surprised they don't mention anything about possible phase inversions either, but maybe their device compensates for that (or your average switching PSU could handle it in stride anyway)
Still this is kind of a neat device. I can think of a fair number of legitimate applications for a sort of 'vampire' transfer switch like this such as being able to rework rack power or replace UPS's without having to work around equipment being down.
or you could arrange your pc in such a way that you're facing a window. When you see the cops arrive, flick the "off" button. on the other hand, if you're infront of pc and looking at a 'window' you should be arrested
Or just put a push to make switch on the bottom of the PC case, if its picked up it cuts out the supply!
How long till they show these on CSI?
That's why you gotta keep your warez, pr0n, and movies on a drive encrypted with a randomly generated, 1 gig, one-time pad, stored in RAM. And yea, you gotta unplug that shit lickity spit when the raid happens.
they wont get my pc it has a 1000watt/1 KW power supply. my one hour back up battery last 15 min. and it weights 75lbs. first they have to run it off of power then they have to move it up 3 flights of stairs. someone is getting hurt if they move it. HAHA I win.
couldnt you just bolt it to the floor or to a desk. or bolt it to the electrical blug and recess the plug into the wall.
Wont need it if you do most of your work on a laptop.
i've seen the perfect device to take care of this. it sends data down your mains by varying a load accross it. the changes in current are picked up by another device in your mains and reconstructed into the original data. so if it's fitted into your PSU it could shut down when it stops receiving the right data. that'll confuse them some. MUAHAHAHA
If I were doing something illegal enough that there was a risk of computer seizure, I think the power plug would be the first thing I yanked when I heard the door being kicked in. Or you could set up a hotkey to lock the computer (MS has Windows Key+L). Then, even though you're still logged in, they have to break at least one password to get in.
Besides that, though, my primary drive's read head crashed when my desktop was moved (running) from the desk to the floor...a trip that took it all of 4 inches and was done by someone trying to be careful (he should have turned the damn thing off!). I can only imagine how very little data would still be intact if they confiscated the computer still running, took it down a flight of stairs, threw it in the back of a squad car, and drove to their forensics lab.
Instead of wiring your psu/computer to run off of a much higher voltage, you could put it on a much lower voltage, so that when they plug in their ups it fries your computer.
The one I like the best is the hidden transmitter that triggers computer shutdown when it goes too far away, and have that also trigger the chemical hdd mister. Hdds are dirt cheap nowadays, so just keep all of your sensitive info on a cheap, smaller drive with the chemical mister and have the auto shutdown, and you are completely safe- nothing in ram, no hdd left, but your computer is unharmed!
What happens if you only have a single power outlet?
They pull the socket open, strip the wires without cutting them and clamp on the HotPlug device (which would then ironically not be using a plug at all) still very simple and possible (but remember simple does not mean easy!).
I'm having a really hard time imagining how useful this would be - and like many others, how easy it would be to circumvent. Besides, all it is is a UPS with grid-sync inverter just like anyone with off-grid capability home power systems use.
Really it is nice of the cops to keep the machine running so it has more time to wipe its disks clean after it notices it has been disconnected from your peripherals and internet connection.
Not that I'm interested, but another way to thwart this would be to be to put a GPS receiver in the machine so it can "self-distruct" (hide its tracks) if relocated. Like a Cheshire cat all that would be left by the time it was back at the office would be a grin.
But, no one really pointed out that a huge number of people us a UPS anyway because they need to keep their computer on and safe from getting fried by brown outs. For those that want their computer to not stay on they could just have it self turn off after a fixed amount of time - unless a password or thumb print was supplied - after that turn off (or self distruct).
@ Andrew Jones
Did you even watch it properly, the green was ground, white was neutral, and the black wire was hot, watch it properly next time before commenting, you make yourself sound stupid.
I suspect this might be useful for seizing the computers of kiddie porn peddlers, who might have other things on their mind other than computer security.