Hugh,
Just wanted to bring up a point about a couple of the letters to the editor. The article was meant as a primer as to steps that can be taken to digitally secure your data. There is no such thing as a 100% secure data system. It sounds good, but it is unrealistic. With that said, however, you can make it take such an inordinate amount of time to get to the data as to be “virtually” 100%. That is also the premise of DiD (Defense in Depth). You are employing a multi-layer shell of encryption and segmentation around your data. It would be a simple matter to turn TPM on in the BIOS of the machine and then (assuming Windows here) activate Bitlocker on the host machine. This would add yet another layer to the onion that someone is trying to peel back. Add in the fact with TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enabled and proper configuration, it would be possible to create hardware-based encryption that would lock the machine if the hardware changes (opening the door to using devices that can be removed at will to lock the machine and prevent it from even booting). It is all about time and how long you can force them to decrypt the data, assuming they can even figure out where it is. I would be more than happy to continue the discussion, if the readers want more information. I’ve had ideas for other articles on low-tech computer networking and other related topics, if people are interested as well. – J.B.