What a slap to the faces of everyone who had been locked out of their data because they never knew about this crap and thus never saved their keys
Except their keys were saved but microsoft deemed that they cant “prove ownership” of the microsoft account, because they lack the credentials…
People called me paranoid when I said this would happen someday…
if theres money to be made it will happen one day
So, this means Microsoft has copies of every single bitlocker key, meaning that a bad actor could obtain them… Thereby making bitlocker less than worthless, it’s an active threat.
MS really speedrunning worst possible software timelineThey don’t have a copy of every single Bitlocker key. They do have a copy of your Bitlocker key if you are dumb enough to allow it to sync with your Microsoft account, you know, “for convenience.”
Don’t use a Microsoft account with Windows, even if you are forced to use Windows.
To use Windows without a Microsoft account requires tech literacy these days, I thought. I would not be suprised if users didn’t choose to sync with a MS account but it’s doing it anyway, if that’s what MS want.
If you sign in with a Microsoft account at all I don’t believe there’s the capability to opt out.
I only use local accounts. I have never had a Microsoft account. I never will.
You can’t do that anymore, at least not with a normal Windows installation. All of the tricks of forcing it offline, clicking cancel 10 times and jumping up and down don’t work anymore, they’ve disabled them all, the only way to install Windows 11 now (using the normal Microsoft installer) is by linking it to a Microsoft account.
Using Rufus still works. I did it as recently as a couple of days ago.
You can still create a local account by setting the PC up as a “School or Business” PC and then choosing the local account option.
This is not true. There are several tools to create a bootable USB that uses a local account.
They just made it hard for Joe Schmoe to avoid it.
using the normal installer
Joe Schmoe buys new laptop with Windows preinstalled.
Joe Schmoe boots it for the first time.
Greeted by first-log-on.
Goes through steps and is immediately captured.
I have a windows 11 installation without an account. You got to get an alternative image (I got LTSC).
I was really hoping there would be a jailbroken version of windows by now, you know a version that doesn’t update and doesn’t have any bloatware.
I guess it’s just not worth it given how far Linux has advanced.
Just update a W10 local install. It won’t even try to ask you to add a microsoft account.
Encryption doesn’t actually complete until you log in with a Microsoft account for Home Edition.
Anyways: Use Veracrypt.
Or just Linux + LUKS
Save a copy of your bitlocker keys to a Veracrypt drive with a password no shorter then 15 mixed characters. Then upload that encrypted container to any free service. They wont be able to open it and now you have a remote backup copy.
I employed the super secure expedient of never exporting my keys. I have no idea what they are, I never did, and I never will.
There’s really no irreplaceable data on my Windows machine. If I have to reformat it some day A) that’s no big deal, and B) it’s Windows, what else is new.
If the password is long 15 characters that means you use a password manager. At that point just put the bitlocker password in the password manager
nope use password sentences easy when you make it a sentence you can remember
Why is that dumb?
I encrypt my drive to protect my data from burglars and thieves who might steal my laptop, how would they obtain the recovery key from Microsoft? O_o
They do have a copy of your Bitlocker key if you are dumb enough to allow it to sync with your Microsoft account, you know, “for convenience.”
Which I don’t believe is the only way it can leak. It’s well known Microsoft can access anything and everything on an internet connected Windows PC whether there’s a Microsoft account or not. If the nazi’s push for the device of someone on a local account only, you know they’ll magically find a way.
No they do not have copies of every Bitlocker key.
Bitlocker by default creates a 48-bit recovery code that can be used to unlock an encrypted drive. If you run Windows with a personal Microsoft account it offers to backup that code into your Microsoft account in case your system needs recovered. The FBI submitted a supoena to request the code for a person’s encrypted drive. Microsoft provided it, as required by law.
Bitlocker does not require that key be created, and you don’t have to save it to Microsoft’s cloud.
This is just a case of people not knowing how things work and getting surprised when the data they save in someone else’s computer is accessed using the legal processes.
Hey copilot, give me the bitlocker key to the nuclear football!
And people make fun of me for turning off secure boot and tpm. They just cause grief for no benefit.
Both are completely unrelated to the discussion. TPM sometimes have issues regarding their security, but you can certainly use Secure Boot with your own signing keys to ensure the kernel you run is one you installed, which improves security. And you can use TPM to either keep your FDE keys, or only part of them combined with a PIN if you don’t fully trust them to be secure, so you keep strong encryption but with a bit of convenience.
Without a (properly configured) Secure Boot startup, anyone could just put a malware between the actual boot and your first kernel. If the first thing that happens when you boot is something asking for a password to be able to decrypt your storage, then an attacker can just put something here, grab your password, and let you proceed while storing in a a place it can be retrieved.
Is this scenario a concern for most people? That’s unlikely. But every computer sold these last five years (at least!) can be setup to reduce this risk, so why not take advantage of it.
As long as you’re doing your own whole disk encryption, you have a valid path to still be secure. However, if you’re running an unencrypted disk, you’re much more likely to lose your data to a non-state actor.
Could be worse. Could have skeleton keys
You’re assuming there isn’t a master pubkey baked into the software.
More likely stupid users storing their bitlocker key in the microsoft account instead of printing it out or storing it somewhere not owned by MS lol
Just use Linux.
bonjour!
Can’t stop winning.
Microslop’s OS is evidently untrustworthy and should not be used. I recommend replacing it with a Linux distribution.
People will still use it all the same though lol
People are creatures of habit, whereas fortune favors the bold.
Daily reminder that verified boot is objectively superior to “secure boot”, once again a common Linux W and another example of Google actually promoting some good security practices
Same thing?
You can add custom keys to secure boot.
That doesn’t make it the same thing
Both are different names for a process that ensures the boot process is loading the correct non-malicious code.
Secure boot verifies the system is booting correct code, verified boot can ensure total system integrity and can protect against tampering. Furthermore the Linux implementation of secure boot is very often in the least secure method.
Amazing how every time you think they’ve finally stopped digging… they whip out the steam shovel and go “Hey y’all, watch this!”
Federal investigators in Guam believed the devices held evidence that would help prove individuals handling the island’s Covid unemployment assistance program were part of a plot to steal funds.
Damn, they weren’t even doing this to go after pedos.
I’m curious where in the economic ladder this person fell. Rich enough to get a significant amount of money from the system, but still too poor to make the government look the other way.
Wasn’t this by design? Otherwise why keeping the decryption keys on servers located in the united states’?
Just as I expected how security in Microsoft products works.
Not your keys ? Not your data !
Well, since you don’t actually enter a password to decrypt a bitlocker device, you can intercept the key data with physical connectors to the TPM
Bitlocker just makes it slightly more tedious to retrieve data. As long as you have all other components intact aswell.
I’m just wondering how many devices still use dedicated TPMs, instead of the ones integrated in the SoC by AMD and Intel. Sniffing a bus inside the SoC must be significantly harder or impossible.
A single bitter, crowing “hah!” at whoever thought there wasn’t at least this much overlap between our corporate and government masters. Welcome to hell kid, shoutout to whatever’s being trained on the last ~30 years of everything that touched the internet in the NSA’s Utah data center. Rose coloured PRISM though, I dream of the day when someone makes those search tools public and I can reminisce through my preteen MSN Messenger convos
