To collect data from IT systems, investigators in Berlin can secretly search suspects' rooms. This is in a Police Act amendment.

In order to monitor encrypted communication, investigators will in future, according to the Senate draft and the Änderungen der Abgeordneten, not only be allowed to hack IT systems but also to secretly enter suspects’ apartments.

If remote installation of the spyware is technically not possible, paragraph 26 explicitly allows investigators to “secretly enter and search premises” in order to gain access to IT systems. In fact, Berlin is thus legalizing – as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did before – state intrusion into private apartments in order to physically install Trojans, for example via USB stick.

  • Ooops@feddit.orgEnglish
    321·
    4 days ago

    Yeah, because putting in a USB stick is a real solution for a somewhat secure system and not just media bullshit referenced to justify invading private homes at will.

    • besselj@lemmy.caEnglish
      11·
      4 days ago

      Usbguard, locked bios, and disallowing booting from USB. Good luck to them I guess.

      • FauxLiving@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        3 days ago

        Locked bios doesn’t mean anything if they have physical access to your PC.

        They can reset the bios with a jumper, replace your bootloader, forensically image your hard drives and wait for you to boot and unlock your drives so they can grab the keys from memory.

        A second trip could install a rootkit/malware because they know your encryption keys.

        • Dasus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Not that I even remotely believe the “nothing to hide nothing to fear” rhetoric, but given the depth of your assumptions, why would the police bother doing all that to a person they don’t have strong suspicions of? Because doing all that takes time.

          It’s not that they wouldn’t want to supervise literally everyone for no reason at all, but unless you’re running a drug market from your pc or are a pathetic pedophile with cp, I find it kinda hard to believe the cops would bother.

          (And I’m an actual professional criminal, but in another country.)

          • FauxLiving@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            13 hours ago

            You’re right, they probably wouldn’t bother for the vast majority of people. Also, for the typical computer that isn’t security hardened and is also connected to the Internet, you could do the entire attack with a few seconds of access.

            This kind of attack is referred to as an evil maid attack, if you want to research tools and methods.

            If they’re trying to uncover a conspiracy of multiple targets, being able to bug the electronic devices of any of the members will give them a lot of ongoing intelligence and opportunities to infect additional target. Being able to image a device before the target is aware of the investigation (who then alters/deletes the data) is also important in a lot of cases.