Digital Search and utilities to "Brick" my device

[paxmao]

Sorry for a new thread, but I think it may be worth. Let´s suppose that my phones or laptops are seized. Is there any app to "Brick" them / kill all data remotely or that it happens automatically if I don´t key in a code periodically?? Does anyone have experience with these?

[Trofo]

Sorry for a new thread, but I think it may be worth. Let´s suppose that my phones or laptops are seized. Is there any app to "Brick" them / kill all data remotely or that it happens automatically if I don´t key in a code periodically?? Does anyone have experience with these?

Never thought about that problem, but now that you mentioned it and having in mind the thread about border controls plus always possible case of simple theft I can see the usability of software like that. I believe there must something already available to brick/kill your devices. It shouldn't be to hard to develop after all. I am not much of a programmer and I thought of a few ways to do it while writing this post. Granted they all need root access to your phone but for anybody willing to use such extreme methods rooting shouldn't be a problem

It seems to me that best way would be to perform a faulty rom update for mobile phones or bios flash for computers. Just use a simple script to initiate at prearranged time if not stopped (dead man switch) or maybe to trigger it remotely which is more useful but probably a little bit more complicated to write.

I would bet that something like that exists, at least on darknet.

[paxmao]

I would bet that something like that exists, at least on darknet.

I think so, I just wanted to know if someone here had used any specific software to have  a reference.

[Carlton Banks]

I think it does exist, but I would forget about it, as it wouldn't work as a defense forever. As soon as that software became commonly used, anyone who might steal your device from you will simply use a faraday cage when seizing it, that defense would be useless in that case.

My solution would be to make use of encryption headers on your removable storage. Keep anything private on removable storage, and only ever flash the encryption headers onto the storage device when you need the data. Without the encryption headers, the disk is indistinguishable to random data, so the disk appears blank to an OS or to more technical analysis. You can't be blackmailed for a password to a blank SD card.

[bitmover]

My solution would be to make use of encryption headers on your removable storage. Keep anything private on removable storage, and only ever flash the encryption headers onto the storage device when you need the data. Without the encryption headers, the disk is indistinguishable to random data, so the disk appears blank to an OS or to more technical analysis. You can't be blackmailed for a password to a blank SD card.

Is this the same as encrypting a mobile device? You can encrypt any Android device. 
So your personal data would only be readable with a pin.

Encrypt your Android Device

[Carlton Banks]

Is this the same as encrypting a mobile device?

no

[paxmao]

... As soon as that software became commonly used, anyone who might steal your device from you will simply use a faraday cage when seizing it, that defense would be useless in that case.

If there is a "dead hand" timed bricking mechanism, it would not have to be on-line, would it?

[Carlton Banks]

... As soon as that software became commonly used, anyone who might steal your device from you will simply use a faraday cage when seizing it, that defense would be useless in that case.

If there is a "dead hand" timed bricking mechanism, it would not have to be on-line, would it?

That's true.

You could do this yourself then. Setup a script that starts when you lock the screen, and times out after however long. When time out is reached, do any prerequisites, delete disk encryption headers, power off. Setting the timeout would be the difficult part, it needs to be less than the remaining battery + safety margin (so you can be sure that the script reliably completes before the battery dies). You lose alot of usability after that, it would be difficult at first to remember to unlock the device before your script wipes the disk encryption headers.

Or a more high risk strategy might be to have a panic script, in your taskbar say. That would be simpler, the panic script would begin the timeout period, or even the header wiping directly. This assumes your adversary gives you enough time to hit the panic button though, hence the high risk part.


I'm not keen on any of these solutions, it's better if taking you by surprise is a high cost to an adversary. You can do that by keeping private stuff on separate disks, without encryption headers, except when you're using them.

[Jet Cash]

Well virus writers seem to be able to brick machines, but I suspect it would take some time to clear everything. You might be better off using a physical device rather than software. An electrostatic discharge could mess up your hard disk, but you would have to make sure the kids don't get hold of your machine.

[paxmao]

An electrostatic discharge could mess up your hard disk,

I think that clearly ICO meat. A project to develop a  portable electromagnetic bomb designed to blast any device on a 10 m radius. It does not only kill your own info, but probably f**k also the iPhones of all the people on the bus, and that´s something I would pay to see.

It won´t brick my device is seized though.

[pozmu]

Project Prey maybe? I know many years ago their were famous for being best tool for such purposes but I don't know how good are they now.

Portable electromagnetic bomb? I remember few years ago that idea of physically destroying stolen phones was widely discussed.

[vphasitha01]

Why don't you try Google play protect and it can remotely deletes all data in your devise but not the data in your SD card.

Find lock or erase a lost Android device

[paxmao]

Why don't you try Google play protect and it can remotely deletes all data in your devise but not the data in your SD card.

Find lock or erase a lost Android device

Thanks, not exactly the answer and somewhat limited. I did play that trick with a friend using the find device ring. I told him that I could make his phone ring even if he had the volume all the way down ... and it did.

[Piggy]

Beside what Carlton Banks is suggesting which is the easiest and fastest way to protect the data making it inaccessible.

Another non trivial solution which could allow you to wipe the data remotely, without any kind of connection (in particular when your hard disk is getting unplugged from your device), is to modify the firmware of you hard disk to wipe itself, unless is getting some reassurance it's really you using it. In this way when somebody plug in your hard disk to try to read the content, without providing the proper initialization, would cause to wipe itself automatically.

I don't think there would be a lot of people expecting something like that, unless your device is in the hand of the NSA or some other powerful government organization. 

[paxmao]

... is to modify the firmware of you hard disk to wipe itself...

Come on guys, I am a busy guy reading hundred´s not so good posts everyday looking for the good stuff. Gimme the of-the-self solution don´t make me learn to program Hard Disk Drives firmware 

[Piggy]

... is to modify the firmware of you hard disk to wipe itself...

Come on guys, I am a busy guy reading hundred´s not so good posts everyday looking for the good stuff. Gimme the of-the-self solution don´t make me learn to program Hard Disk Drives firmware 

On Windows you can use Bitlocker to encrypt your data

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/bitlocker/bitlocker-overview

[xtraelv]

Sorry for a new thread, but I think it may be worth. Let´s suppose that my phones or laptops are seized. Is there any app to "Brick" them / kill all data remotely or that it happens automatically if I don´t key in a code periodically?? Does anyone have experience with these?

For remote erase:

Android - Install "Find My Device" (APP) and enable "Allow remote lock and erase ".

Iphone  - install "Find My iPhone" https://support.apple.com/kb/PH2701?locale=en_US

Laptop (PC and MAC)  - You can use a program like: https://homeoffice.absolute.com/


Software for prey (subscription) does Ios, Android, Mac, PC and Linux
https://preyproject.com/features/


For deadman switch:

Linux deadman switch script - http://blog.mcglew.net/2012/09/dead-mans-switch-on-linux-part-1-basic.html