Recovery of Keys From Computer Memory
A 2008 study found data remanence in dynamic random access memory (DRAM), again with data retention of seconds to minutes at room temperature and much longer times when memory chips were cooled to low temperature. The study authors were able to demonstrate a cold boot attack to recover cryptographic keys for several popular disk encryption systems despite some memory degradation, by taking advantage of redundancy in the way keys are stored after they have been expanded for efficient use. The authors recommend that computers be powered down, rather than be left in a "sleep" state, when not under physical control by the computer's legitimate owner. This method of key recovery however, is suited for controlled laboratory settings and is extremely impractical for "field" use due to the equipment and cooling systems required.
Read more about this topic: Disk Encryption Software
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