[unknownAttacker]

Here I'm going to describe certain techniques and concepts related to plausibly denying involvement in hacking and existence or importance of cryptographic materials.

Plausible deniability in hacking

If you get accused of illegal activities related to hacking, there are some ways to bullshit yourself out of trouble. Some of more useful are:

Emergency virus pack - get yourself a DVD or USB or something filled with spyware servers, trojans, keyloggers and all the fun stuff. Yes, I mean the ones that infect you, no the ones that control the malware. In case of emergency, run them on your system. As many of those program allow to launch attacks from your computer, you have a nice 'I'm the victim here' defense ready.

Wardrivability - if you use a Wi-Fi router, turn logs off. Then either turn the security off or set it to something easily hackable like WEP (preferably with a weak password). This gives you a similar defence as you may pretend that someone broken into your network but you have no logs to prove it.

Wardrivability ++ -do the same thing as in the previous one but don't turn off logs, just delete those that incriminate you. Borrow a laptop/use a spare one, spoof MAC in it and 'break' into your own network. Do suspicious shit, especially accessing hacking-related websites and then watch your pursuer chase a hacker that doesn't exist.

Fake computer illiteracy - as an addition to any (or both) of those attacks, you may try to pretend to be really bad with computers. Backup all your data that may prove otherwise, store on removable media, place Eraser (or sth like that) on removable media and use it to securely wipe this stuff from your computer. Hide the storage media. Stop visiting security/tech/hacking/nerd sites for some time, stick to facebook and other mainstream sites, maybe gaming. For additional points use Internet Explorer with at least 2 toolbars installed. This one of course won't work if you have a known job or education related to computers.

Plausible deniability in cryptography

Multiple-meaning primitive ciphers/codes - if you communicate using primitive, non-mathematical ciphers (word replacements, acronyms, symbols), be sure to create plausible alternate meanings for them.

Encrypted files pretending to be malfromed data - this is especially good for TrueCrypt containers. As they can have any format, you can make them look as any kind of file, assuming that this file is broken and unreadable. Example: get a season of a TV show on HDD, delete a random episode, make a TrueCrypt container the size of one episode, give it an appropriate name and place it in an appropriate catalog.

Hidden container 1: I just store passwords - make a password database (i.e. with KeePass). Make a small container with a hidden/nested container inside it. Place a database in the outer one and more secret things in the inner.

Hidden container 2: The bad hides the worse - sometimes you need to hide something large in size that nobody can find (maybe a big database you've hacked and downloaded, maybe some super secret leaks). You can use similar approach: make a big container with other one hidden/nested. Unfortunately, you need an outer container filled with some big files that you'd plausibly want to hide. Your best bet here is a lot of random porn, second call would be warez.

Hidden container 3: Good secrets hide the bad secrets - this is quite specific. Basically, if you work on any kind of secret or confidential data (might be something as mundane as unreleased version of software if you work in software development, for example), you can use it just the way you'd use passwords/porn/warez in previous examples. This is very good as it's very plausible.

Plausibly hiding files inside files - I'm sure you're familiar with techniques of merging files together without binding them. Doing it plausibly is simply the case of filesizes. Your best bet is hiding small things in pictures and music files while hiding larger ones in video. Bonus points if music and video are VBR so the correct size of unmerged file will be harder to calculate.

[Bravo]

If you were accused of illegal activity, would you have the time to run a bunch of keyloggers, trojans, and such? Wouldn't the accusation come as a surprise and prevent you from running your "self destruct" USB in time?

[Bravo]

If you were accused of illegal activity, would you have the time to run a bunch of keyloggers, trojans, and such? Wouldn't the accusation come as a surprise and prevent you from running your "self destruct" USB in time?

[unknownAttacker]

it depends, honestly. if you're accused of a minor hack, they won't set SWAT after you, they'll knock. if you place it correctly, you'll have time to run it and unplug the computer quickly. but of course if it's something bigger, you probably won't have time for this.

[unknownAttacker]

it depends, honestly. if you're accused of a minor hack, they won't set SWAT after you, they'll knock. if you place it correctly, you'll have time to run it and unplug the computer quickly. but of course if it's something bigger, you probably won't have time for this.

[Roxy_30]

Thanks for this post. I really appreciate the effort put in. Do you use free vpn?

[resolvebug]

Lo and behold, another computer user who doesn't understand the laws surrounding cybercrime! In the U.S, none of that will work.

Here's the problem: laws haven't been created that separate cybercrimes from other types of crimes. Ignorance of crime doesn't protect you from prosecution and liability.

Let's go through your ideas:

Plausible deniability in hacking
Emergency virus pack with the defense "I'm the victim here"
Computers that are infected with viruses or worms or malware show signs of gradual infection. Rapid infection from multiple sources is always deliberate.

Wardrivability
What a great idea! Wardriving is a federal crime under the "Land Act of War", it comes with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life. If law enforcement agents can connect you to this they will.

Fake computer illiteracy
Are you kidding us? They'll look at your computing environment and how you were using it. No one will believe you even if you cry and use your l337 speak.

Plausible deniability in cryptography
Multiple-meaning primitive ciphers/codes
Awesome idea! Law enforcement loves this kind of psychological nonsense. There is always a pattern to be found because you are a person trying to express yourself using a limited range of values.

Encrypted files pretending to be malfromed data, Hidden containers, Plausibly hiding files inside files
That's very easy for any system programmer to search for. The worse part of this idea is storing the encrypted data in highly recoverable file types.


You only have to be arrested once for your life in computers to be over. Never forget that.

Regards,
ResolveBug

[unknownAttacker]

Thanks for this post. I really appreciate the effort put in. Do you use free vpn?

no, only paid

Computers that are infected with viruses or worms or malware show signs of gradual infection. Rapid infection from multiple sources is always deliberate.

I call bullshit on this, Java drivebys often get you multiple downloaders which then download multiple malwares.

What a great idea! Wardriving is a federal crime under the "Land Act of War", it comes with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life. If law enforcement agents can connect you to this they will.

too bad I'm not talking about wardriving but about getting wardrive. did you even read my posts?

Are you kidding us? They'll look at your computing environment and how you were using it. No one will believe you even if you cry and use your l337 speak.

again, did you read the post? it describes how to make your computer look like it belongs to someone who knows shit about computers

Awesome idea! Law enforcement loves this kind of psychological nonsense. There is always a pattern to be found because you are a person trying to express yourself using a limited range of values.

but of course, primitive ciphers are always inferior to modern ones.

That's very easy for any system programmer to search for. The worse part of this idea is storing the encrypted data in highly recoverable file types.

TrueCrypt containers are quite hard to identify, believe me.

[resolvebug]

Thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of plausible deniability you threw out there.

I think most computer security professionals can see the difference between unskilled users and knowledgeable users. Hacking in every sense of the word is not a pastime activity; it requires skill and dedication.

Anyone being investigated by law enforcement agents shouldn't radically change who they are or what they do on their computers. Also, don't encourage them to investigate you further by giving them ideas like wardriving or you're hiding secret data in other files.

Cryptography is not a crime. Encrypting your data doesn't mean you're a criminal or you're doing something illegal. Encryption means protecting your privacy. Anyone serious about what they do in computers knows about cryptography and has cryptographic software for protecting their data and for cracking it (cracking is part of data recovery).

Regards,
ResolveBug

[unknownAttacker]

again, you didn't understand the wardriving part. it's not about you wardriving, it's about you having purposefully unsecure network so that you cn plausibly pretend that an attacker with your IP is not you but the wardriver