Risk: Informational
A team including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has discovered a security flaw in everyday disk encryption technologies.
The researchers cracked several disk encryption technologies, including Microsoft's BitLocker, Apple's FileVault, TrueCrypt and dm-crypt. This encryption software is designed to protect confidential information if a computer is stolen or an unauthorised person gains access.
It was discovered that even if a computer is locked or in hibernation mode, data remained stored in the RAM when the power was reapplied. Even though the locked screen requires a password to gain access, the encryption keys are already located in the RAM, which provides an opportunity for attackers.
The information stored on the RAM can be accessed by simply powering the machine down and quickly re-booting to an external hard drive.