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Letter: ID theft made easy

Published 18 March 2008

From Martyn Thomas

You report proposals that computer operating systems should be modified to keep a copy of RAM on the hard disc, to aid forensic analysis when computers are found running at crime scenes (23 February, p 23).

This is a terrible idea. All sorts of confidential data is held in RAM, including the keys to any encrypted disc partitions. That would make all data on a stolen laptop available to the thief. The police already know how to grab the contents of RAM from a running computer. Let’s not make life easier for thieves.

Bath, Somerset, UK

Issue no. 2648 published 22 March 2008

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