Submitted via IRC for Bytram
BitLocker on self-encrypted SSDs blown; Microsoft advises you switch to software protection
Yesterday, Microsoft released ADV180028, Guidance for configuring BitLocker to enforce software encryption, in response to a clever crack published on Monday by Carlo Meijer and Bernard van Gastel at Radboud University in the Netherlands (PDF).
[...] The security researchers explain that they were able to modify the firmware of the drives in a required way, because they could use a debugging interface to bypass the password validation routine in SSD drives. It does require physical access to a (internal or external) SSD. But the researchers were able to decrypt hardware-encrypted data without a password. The researchers write that they will not release any details in the form of a proof of concept (PoC) for exploit.
Microsoft's BitLocker feature encrypts all the data on a drive. When you run BitLocker on a Win10 system with a solid state drive that has built-in hardware encryption, BitLocker relies on the self-encrypting drive's own capabilities. If the drive doesn't have hardware self-encryption (or you're using Win7 or 8.1), BitLocker implements software encryption, which is less efficient, but still enforces password protection.
[...] The hardware-based self-encryption flaw seems to be present on most, if not all, self-encrypting drives.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday November 08 2018, @08:49PM
There are successors to the TrueCrypt codebase like VeraCrypt and CipherShed.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"