# "Kill"-word instead of Password for HDs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-word-instead-of-password-for-hds/627181 "2012-07-04T04:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-word-instead-of-password-for-hds/627181/21 "2012-07-04T21:02:05Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > Does this happen at airports? What, and where, are these checkpoints? Any US Customs entry point. Airports or land border crossings. Slashdot regularly posts horror tales about this. Some links relevant to my post. > **[Examining the Search and Seizure of Electronics at Airports - Slashdot](https://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/02/10/1251233/examining-the-search-and-seizure-of-electronics-at-airports)** > > Angus McKraken brings us a Washington Post story about how travelers are seeking more well-defined policies and rules about the search and seizure of electronic devices by U.S. Customs officials. The EFF has already taken legal action over similar... > **[Securing Your Notebook Against US Customs - Slashdot](https://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/05/15/1551246/securing-your-notebook-against-us-customs)** > > Nethemas the Great points out a piece from Bruce Schneier running in the UK's Guardian newspaper with some tips for international travelers on securing notebook computers for border crossings. A taste of the brief article: > "Last month a US court... > **[DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely - Slashdot](https://yro.slashdot.org/story/08/08/01/0958242/dhs-allowed-to-take-laptops-indefinitely)** > > andy1307 writes with a Washington Post story giving details of Department of Homeland Security policies for border searches of laptops and other electronic devices (as well as papers). (We have been discussing border searches for a while now.) DHS... [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763.html) Note that most of what I have read applies to two categories of people: Those of the “wrong” ethnic/religious/national origin group. People who have gotten the attention of the US government for espousing the “wrong” view on issues, such as laptop seizures at borders. Note that you don’t actually have to crossing the border to be stopped and undergo an inspection by US Border Patrol agents. You can be up to [100 miles from the Canadian border](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol_Interior_Checkpoints). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-word-instead-of-password-for-hds/627181/22 "2012-07-04T21:34:42Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > All hardware encrypted drives have a processor on the device itself that executes code. I guess those could quite easily support it then. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-word-instead-of-password-for-hds/627181/23 "2012-07-05T21:24:45Z")
I don’t have a lot to add to what has already been said. Someone examining your hard drive will take a forensic image of the drive, make copies, and work off the copies, so the killword won’t do much to affect them (I am a computer forensic examiner). Also, as has been noted, wiping a drive takes a loooong time. Even if the killword approach did work, and you could somehow wipe a drive in a short period of time, you might not like the results. If the bad guys are hitting you with a rubber hose to get the password, and you trick them into wiping the data instead, things will probably go downhill for you pretty rapidly. What you want is [Deniable Encryption](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption), as **si\_blakely** noted. Interestingly, one early form of deniable encryption was called [Rubberhose](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_(file_system)), having been designed for dissidents and reporters working in repressive regimes. The idea is, you give the Rubberhose Wielder the password to the innocuous stuff, and he never knows of the existence of the good stuff. One of the three developers of that system was … Julian Assange. Rubberhose is no longer being maintained, and I would hesitate to rely on it myself, as I don’t have any information on whether the system has stood up to cryptanalysis in the decade or so since it was released. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-word-instead-of-password-for-hds/627181.md?page=1)