The Cold, Hard Facts about Encryption

The New York Times, MSNBC and others have reported that researchers at Princeton University have found a disarmingly simple way to steal encrypted data from a hard disk. Just like yours.

Wazzat?

Yessir. All it takes a a blast of cold air directed at your computer's DRAM memory, a reboot, some special software, and voila! no more secrets. While this can't be done remotely, a stolen computer - or one being scrutinized during an investigation, for that matter - can have its hard drive contents cracked like an egg by someone using no more than a can of anti-dust spray.

While the group's explanation is pretty technical, the discovery's application is not. Which makes publishing this for all to see a mixed blessing, since now those lost and stolen government computers containing millions of confidential records will be that much easier to hack. Not to mention yours, should you have the misfortune to have it disappear from your desk or suitcase.

So, once again, we can only say that if you want guaranteed lifetime protection for your sensitive information, iForem's the only game in town.

No matter how cold it gets.