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Comment by prawn | Hacker News Reader

International conferences should be considering this also. I'm a plain white guy with nothing dramatic to hide and I was apprehensive on my recent visit to the US. I can imagine people working in tech security, or with backgrounds/family from particular countries, would be more nervous.

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I work in tech security and indeed, I've thought about this topic and I'd be nervous as hell.

Then again, needing to put my laptop in check-in luggage (with a backdoored lock? Is that really a thing? I only saw "TSA-approved locks" mentioned somewhere and am only inferring the existence of backdoored locks here) is a no-go in the first place, so I'd need to (1) want to go to the USA, (2) not take a laptop and (3) probably buy a special backdoored suitcase. That's a pretty rare combination.

Just think of TSA locks as open source locks https://github.com/Xyl2k/TSA-Travel-Sentry-master-keys

You don't need the backdoored lock. The TSA will helpfully use bolt cutters on any locks they don't have a working key for.

Source: Me and my suitcase a couple of years ago. (Which had a TSA approved lock on it!!)

1. Don't take the laptop, preferably don't take a phone, unless you can factory wipe it before entering customs. If this is not an option, don't go. With 10 years in forensics/ more in IT and a good/careful eye to the legislation, I have made the sad decision I can't go. (various work conferences)

Factory-wiping will not stop them from installing a rootkit in something like the SSD controller's firmware. I would be very reluctant to take any electronics with me across a US border. Maybe a cheap Android phone (that's not my main phone and that's not logged into my actual Google account) so that I can call up a map or get a taxi.

The laptop thing seemed to have been in response to a legitimate terror threat actually, unlike all the other travel bans we've been seeing. I recall that the UK imposed it too, or was trying to, in response to intelligence reports that ISIS was going to use this attack vector.

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