How do forensic investigators seize and analyze a computer without turning it off?

The nightmare scenario for today's modern digital forensic investigator is the seizure of a computer with strong incriminating evidence contained on its hard drive. After seizure, but prior to investigation of the drive, the computer is turned off and removed to another location. The nightmare begins when the forensic investigator realizes that the computer was password protected and encrypted; and the perp won't provide the password (or the perp is nowhere to be found!).

Think it can't happen? It just did. Read this from a recent newspaper account:

"FEDS WANT PASSWORD TO UNLOCK COMPUTER FILES".

WASHINGTON -- The federal government is asking a US District Court in Vermont to order a man to type a password that would unlock files on his computer, despite his claim that doing so would constitute self-incrimination.

The case, believed to be the first of its kind to reach this level, raises a uniquely digital-age question about how to balance privacy and civil liberties against the government's responsibility to protect the public.

The case, which involves suspected possession of child pornography, comes as more Americans turn to encryption to protect the privacy and security of files on their personal computers and thumb drives.

FBI and Justice Department officials, meanwhile, have said that encryption is allowing terrorists and criminals to communicate their plots covertly.

The original article may be found on the Washinton Post's website, in it's entirety, here.

The use of WiebeTech's 'HOTPLUG' device allows forensic criminal investigators (along with our companion product, 'Mouse Jiggler') to stabilize a computer, prevent it from going to sleep, examine it, and if necessary, relocate it to a secure location without ever powering the computer down. This is real technology, it works, and it's available now.

Go ahead and look at the links. You'll see technical information on how to use Hotplug and Mouse Jiggler, along with a couple of nifty Youtube videos that demonstrate Hotplug in action.

Digital Photography Hard Drive Backup #1

** Details have been changed in order to protect friends and customers! **

A few evenings back, I was twiddling away in my home office when the phone rang. It was an old friend; hadn't heard anything from him in awhile. He had a friend who was a professional photographer.

It turns out the friend of a friend had recently completed some customer sessions (with obviously irreplaceable photos) and was editing them on an external enclosure. When he turned to take his laptop computer to another room, he forgot it was attached to the enclosure. The enclosure slid across the table, and quicker than you can say "uncontained disaster", the hard drive hit the floor.

Thereafter, it made funny clicking sounds. If it was a living creature, you could almost imagine blood flowing out of it as it made moans of death!

A couple of days later, we sent the damaged drive to Drivesavers. They have a thriving little business (actually, it's not so little) helping folks recover from these disasters.

Now the bad news: they had no good news, and there is no happy ending to this story. They pulled it apart and discovered that the drive was irreparably damaged, and the irreplaceable photos were gone forever.

The moral of the story: ALWAYS make a backup of your data.

6 Things You Thought You Knew About Erasing a Hard Drive.

Justin wrote a fine white paper on the topic of what's on hard drives. If you haven't read the paper, you should.

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Drive Eraser, Drive eRazer

WiebeTech introduced a new product today, called Drive eRazer. It's a drive eraser. Hook it up to a hard drive, and *voila*, the contents are zeroed. There's no software to install, it's fast, and it doesn't tie up your computer for hours. And it's cheap. $99.95.

Idaho Wilderness Flying

Shortly after the death of my Father-in-law, I disappeared into the Idaho wilderness for a week long camping trip. I took 3 of my friends and we ended up camping at Fish Lake, Idaho. The first picture shows (L-R) myself, Mike Andrews, and Don Isaac. Jesse Penna joined us later in the week.

Fish Lake is a wilderness airstrip location that features pristine camping, hiking, and fishing opportunities beside a wilderness lake. There are no roads; the location is accessed via trails (20-ish miles) or by aircraft.


The airstrip is approximately 2800 feet long and is suitable for rugged, high performance aircraft such as my T206, or perhaps Maules/Super Cubs and similar aircraft. This airstrip is kind of like the Hotel California: it's easy to check in but hard to leave. You have to be very patient for favorable conditions. I found that leaving early in the morning, when it was still and cold, was the only way to haul a heavy load out safely and easily. YMMV. Pilots, check density altitude and your POH!


The pictured aircraft is a Maule (not my plane) and was in/out a lot during the time we were there. He was hauling mostly elk hunters (bow season was open) into the location.

We were pleased to see that the USFS cabin was staffed with an onsite wilderness host. This volunteer's responsibility is to look after the campers and the outfitters in the area; while we were there, there was about 5 groups in the neighborhood.

The area has incredible beauty and some pretty good wildlife as well. We saw deer, moose, and black bear and heard bugling elk. We caught cutthroat trout out of the lake; they were incredibly brilliantly colored.

The photo on the left shows a little stream that runs along the airstrip; it's mostly dry but has a few holes with water (and even fish).

The colors of the trees, grass, sky and water are extraordinary. I hunted for the right word there; even extraordinary falls a little short. We don't have scenery like this in Kansas!

We didn't experience any problems with mosquitoes; apparently they can be a hassle, but we saw lots of frost in the mornings and the biting critters were gone.

There are trails in the area for hikers; more on a hike I did in a few paragraphs.


The airstrip has killed quite a few aviators who made poor decisions; always concerning takeoff. Prevailing winds are almost always tailwinds upon takeoff, and they can get quite strong. When combined with rising temperatures and the high altitude, effective takeoff run lengths can easily exceed the field length. Making it even more questionable is the uneven sod surface on the runway. You keep hitting holes on the takeoff run, and they keep slowing the plane down. Finally, it skips into the air and keeps climbing. Whew! The warning sign accident numbers are outdated; to date there have been 8 accidents with 13 or more fatalities.


On our last day, Jesse and I climbed to the top of a nearby ridge. We had a great view of the lake and the airstrip. I found a passing sasquatch that was willing to take our picture; he did a really great job.

My airplane is barely discernible as the small white spec in the middle of the airstrip. I'm wearing my WiebeTech orange T-shirt; Fish Lake is clearly visible, and so is an old burned out part of the forest in the distance. The elevation gain required to take this hike was 1100 feet above the field; trail length is two miles from the airstrip to this point. It's great for your heart!

More on death of a Giant

The Wichita Eagle called yesterday and interviewed my wife and me. The reporter ended up using my 'Giant' comment about Dad in the lead of his article, published on the front page of today's newspaper.

Read it here.

Death of a Giant; how can we have breakfast?

I lost my own father when I was not yet four. Throughout my marriage, my father in law has been my Dad.

We knew Dad's health wasn't great. Degenerative heart failure... diabetes... old age. Not good.

I last had breakfast with him perhaps four months ago. There was a time when we would often catch up over breakfast. He always wanted to know how the business was doing. He was concerned about our stability and financial well-being. Over the years, I learned to gently deflect some of his questions, yet at the same time strived to assure him that all was well in the financial world of Wiebe.

As time went by, I wondered about our breakfasts. It looked less likely that we'd ever be able to get together in that way again.

A few weeks ago, his health went downhill rapidly. The walk became a shuffle. Other health issues cropped up. The family briefly considered letting doctors take a look at his heart one more time, perhaps a stint. Not to be.

His cardiologist made comments such as: "it's amazing that you're still here" when asked how long Pres had to live. Other medical comments reflected on the fact that he would be a candidate for a heart transplant, if he were quite a few years younger.

Then last week, he went into the hospital. It provided another opportunity for him to physically slow down some more. Now the speech was erratic. Not all of his reality was tightly connected.

I left on a sales trip. How long to live? 2 hours? 2 days? 2 weeks? 2 months? Don't know. I resolved to go about my life as normally as possible.

While I am gone, he is discharged from the hospital, away to home.

Hospice shows up. A hospital style bed in a bedroom. Turning off a pacemaker, seeing a coma develop.

I'm in a restaurant near Washington, DC, with my sales manager and my mid-atlantic salesperson. My wife calls me. She needs support. Dad's health is quickly failing, step by step. I leave for home the next morning.

While I am traveling, my wife and her sisters singing to him, "Silent Night". She said he responded by lifting his hands. They pray, they thank him.

Then I got home... Talking to Dad one more time... "I love you", and more.

How can we have breakfast, one more time? I wait for the next life.

I miss him severely in this one.


Pres Huston was a giant in Wichita, KS. He ran one of the largest advertising / marketing companies in Kansas, which was Associated Advertising Agency (now Associated). My wife, Kathy, worked for dad for about 13 years, eventually rising to the position of VP/Operations. Dad wanted her to run the agency. She didn't want the job, although she would have been magnificent.

Over the years, Pres worked with a genuine "Who's Who" of Wichita and regional companies.

For obituary and so forth, check here.

Meeting Steve Jobs; Newer Technology

A long time ago, far far away...

It was after a day at MacWorld. We'd had a busy time in the booth, but this evening was to be far more special. I'd been invited to an Apple VIP party. It was to be held in a hotel somewhere near Moscone, in downtown San Francisco.

I remember walking around the room and looking at name badges. For whatever reason, I remember seeing and meeting Jonathan Ivy, design guru.

Steve Jobs walked into the room, as all oxygen in the room exited simultaneously.

We were seven feet apart.

He said: "We don't like it when you introduce accelerator cards which are faster than our computers." (At that time, I was the CEO of Newer Technology, which ultimately sold somewhere around 150K+ CPU accelerator cards for Macs.)

Well, that was a nice Howdy Do.

I had an Apple handler with me. He was as flustered as I. I certainly didn't know what to say; but the handler stepped in, saying: "Newer Technology is a big supporter of the Apple platform" or similar words to that effect, as if a pithy statement about our Mac attitude could save us from the fact that we were competing on Mr. Jobs playground.

Yeah, I got it.

Newer Technology ultimately failed. Perhaps one of the reasons was that we competed indirectly against Apple. The company that exists today using the same name bought that name and trademark through a Chapter 7 asset liquidation. They gained the right to use the Newer badge to sell anything they want.

Over the years, I also had the pleasure of meeting Gil Amelio (a decent guy, I ended up seeing him several times) and Jon Scully (met him once).

That's enough old times for now. See you soon.