13 January 2015

The answer is: It definitely makes sense.

Okay, this sounds strange because it’s not very likely that a desktop computer will be lost. But if your computer is stolen, the thief has full access to the data stored on the disk, even if he could not login to your system.

An attacker has just to boot a Linux from a USB stick and to mount the Windows hard disk into the Linux filesystem. This will allow him to read the information stored on your computer, credit card statements, insurance policies, or scanned love letters.

But the worst is yet to come. The thief has access to your hashed Windows passwords. These are stored in the SAM (System Account Manager) database in directory C:\windows\system32\config\sam. The SAM is locked when Windows is online, but could be easily read when mounted into a Linux System. Very strong passwords are paying off in such case…

Don’t Panic, and have a good day.

Sunset on Rhine Ferry Leverkusen, 11/28/2014