Visiting USA? Be Ready for Laptop Scrutiny!
From Bruce Schneier, the security expert himself, in the Guardian:
“Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.
But the US is not alone. British customs agents search laptops for pornography. And there are reports on the internet of this sort of thing happening at other borders, too. You might not like it, but it’s a fact. So how do you protect yourself?”
United States court ruled [PDF] that border agents have the right, without cause, to search your data devices as you enter the country. If your device is encrypted, you have to hand over your encryption key.
Read Schneier’s blog for more details. www.schneier.com/blog
His solutions, in brief:
- Hide your data with programs like PGP Disk and TrueCrypt
- Securely erase your files
- Use a VPN
- Ship it separately, via, say FedEx, if you have to
- Store online (e.g. Amazon S3)… although I wonder if that really serves the purpose
