Re: To the Experts: Thoughts on TrueCrypt?

Chris Lawrence wrote:

On Thu, 8 Jun 2006, TwistyCreek wrote:

flawlessly you keep pretending it will. You're right, since it's not
magic software it can't account for judges and juries believing beyond a
reasonable doubt that you have a hidden container, thus it will fail in
some number of scenarios greater than zero.

However that mode of failure is exactly the same for normal TrueCrypt
volumes too. It is not a failure of TrueCrypt in either case. Normal and

If you had been paying attention you'd realize nobody ever said it was.
It's a failure of the entire concept of hiding something when it might be
made obvious for a number of reasons that it exists, the fact that
operating systems will contain clues about its existence, and the fact
that by the very nature of most "computer crime" investigations the
knowledge that data should exist will most often be a factor.

If you had been paying attention you MIGHT have noticed that some of us
had even described scenarios where Truecrypt's hidden volumes would NOT
fail. Like when a computer is seized opportunistically, or without any
prior knowledge of the existence of any particular data.

It comes down to whether or not you are
believed when you claim to be unable to open any possible volume.

This is exactly what we've been saying all along. That the "hidden" part
is mostly snake oil and it boils down to who is best able to convince a
judge or jury they're telling the truth. You have a slightly better chance
of convincing your peers there's no hidden volume than you do of
convincing them you forgot your password, but all other things being equal
it's not that much of an advantage in many or even most real world
scenarios.

.

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