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Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by zionic on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:07AM (#29566091)
Wouldn't it make sense to remove the battery on your laptop entirely? With a modified magsafe-like power cord any attempt to grab the machine hard-kills the system and RAM begins degrading immediately. Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker long enough to prevent freezing the RAM with compressed air to try and dump RAM via an exploit kit.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by pmorici on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:59AM (#29566786)
Devices to transfer from wall power to battery backup for transport have existed for a long time.

https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by remram on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @11:28AM (#29568116)
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by dehrmann on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @01:05PM (#29569424)
Seinfeld had a "rogue electrician" named Slippery Pete who could do this.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by Doxin on Thursday December 16, 2021 @03:13AM (#29576158)
I always wonder if you could make a similar device work for EU plugs. You can't wiggle a EU plug out an 8th of an inch and have exposed line voltage, so I imagine you'd need some sort of trick to make it work.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by qwaxys on Thursday December 16, 2021 @08:10AM (#29577750)
It's easier then you think.

For anything with more than one socket, you just plug in a second cable into a free socket, once the phases are synced up unplug the extension cord or cut the socket free.

For singular sockets straight into the wall, unscrew, clip on connectors with a V shaped knife and same as above.

Although when I was working we usually would take images onsite before even considering moving the devices.

It's definitely not bullet proof but I've set up my laptop to lock when Ethernet or the monitor is unplugged or any new USB device is plugged in. This stops most but not all live imaging.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by gruez on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:14AM (#29566175)
>Epoxy over the screw terminals would also delay an attacker...

Might as well go all in and epoxy the ram sticks/dimm slot assembly.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by ClumsyPilot on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:34AM (#29566449)
Would it cause overheating?
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by gruez on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:42AM (#29566537)
You don't have to douse the whole thing with expoxy. The dimm assembly looks like this: https://guide-images.cdn.ifixit.com/igi/dpYyM4oeOLPPTdpF.hug...

Putting epoxy around the top and bottom edges (where the retention clips are) and the right edge (where the contacts are) should make it extremely difficult to dislodge, but not impact the thermal performance of the chips (the black rectangles).

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by dotancohen on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:40AM (#29566513)
Aren't they already soldered in place in modern laptops?
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by doubled112 on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @09:56AM (#29566747)
Many laptops but not all laptops.

I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable. Drives me crazy because then you end up with more RAM but less performance, so have to choose which hit is worse.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by gruez on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @10:16AM (#29567046)
>I've noticed many lower end have one soldered and one removable

nah, that applies to many mid to high range laptops as well, eg. 14" thinkpads has had 1 soldered 1 removable dimm for years now.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by GekkePrutser on Thursday December 16, 2021 @02:28AM (#29575940)
A lot of laptops either refuse to run or heavily throttle while running without internal battery. I know pretty much all Mac portables do it.

Basically the internal battery is used as a buffer for power peaks. So the laptop can use more than the adaptor can provide for a short time. If it didn't throttle it would become unstable.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by tarboreus on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @10:32AM (#29567263)
I think the idea is that you might only have about a second to kill the device. Yes, you can throw your computer in a bathtub of saltwater or whatever but that's not really the point.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by jacquesm on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @11:50AM (#29568429)
You better make sure that 'tampering with evidence' carries a lower penalty than the thing that you're trying to hide.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by ozfive on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @07:37PM (#29573437)
How can you be charged with tampering with evidence by epoxying your ram dimms?

It's not as though you tampered with the device after the confiscation. Intent is also hard to prove on such a thing. I didn't want my dimms to fall out at any time if the machine was dropped is pretty good plausible deniability.

Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by jacquesm on Thursday December 16, 2021 @08:39AM (#29577949)
Thinking that you are smarter than the judge you will appear before is not a strategy I would recommend.
Re:BusKill – A USB kill cord for laptops by Mandatum on Wednesday December 15, 2021 @12:12PM (#29568754)
You freeze the whole laptop.