Could Encrypted Messages on Josh Powell's Computer Lead to Susan Cox Powell?

[Tricia]

You have to give this to Josh Powell. He knew how to encrypt his information on his computer, and he did this back in 2009.

According to the latest news, experts have not yet been able to decipher Josh's computer encryption but, they have cracked some of his code. Investigators are very optimistic that when everything is deciphered, it will reveal important information about Susan.

More from Fox 13 local news

Let's hope they are right!

Picture courtesy of the Susan Cox Powell Foundation

[LadyL]

but why would he put any info on his computer, even encrypted, about his crime?

I know, why do criminals do anything right?

but just wondering what his motive would be

[TweekTweak]

but why would he put any info on his computer, even encrypted, about his crime?

I know, why do criminals do anything right?

but just wondering what his motive would be

If not related to Susan's disappearance, my money is on some depraved porn. Most likely involving children.

[PaulR]

I don't know if they have released how he used TrueCrypt. Most hard drive encryption software is easiest to set up when you want to encrypt your entire hard drive (so all the data on your computer), not just specific files.

Whole-drive encryption isn't especially rare; many employers require laptop hard drives to be encrypted so a thief won't have access to confidential data. You may not even be aware of it. Windows has had some form of built-in encryption available since Windows XP/2000.

As an aside, it is not a bad idea to think about enabling this. If you do personal finance work on your computer - taxes, home banking, etc. - a thief with an unencrypted hard drive may be able to use the data to impersonate you and clean out bank accounts, or commit other forms of identity theft.

[UKGuy]

I don't know if they have released how he used TrueCrypt. Most hard drive encryption software is easiest to set up when you want to encrypt your entire hard drive (so all the data on your computer), not just specific files.

Whole-drive encryption isn't especially rare; many employers require laptop hard drives to be encrypted so a thief won't have access to confidential data. You may not even be aware of it. Windows has had some form of built-in encryption available since Windows XP/2000.

As an aside, it is not a bad idea to think about enabling this. If you do personal finance work on your computer - taxes, home banking, etc. - a thief with an unencrypted hard drive may be able to use the data to impersonate you and clean out bank accounts, or commit other forms of identity theft.

PaulR,
Hope your first name is not Ron? Nearly all software is backdoored, you get the drift, that includes TC, there is next to nothing online that cannot be deciphered.

Open source works two ways, e.g. you can use it to your own ends, whilst claiming its Open Source, e.g. the binary running on your PC need not be the same as the binary running on a Russian machine, but they can both claim to be Open Source, really?



SPOILER ALERT

Do Not Bother With Encryption its like a red flag to LEA, they already have all the algorithms available to crack whatever you dream up.

What Do I Do : Nothing, like do not record it electronically, think Dread Pirate Roberts, where is he located now? Some USofA Penitentiary, with a Life Sentence and he was the kingpin behind the Silk Road website !


Whole drive encryption, you are having a laugh, surely and who does all this encryption and decryption, like Uncle Microsoft has decided wow we must have encryption as a feature, even although it was made illegal as a munitions export years ago?


Get a life Bill Gates is not one of the richest and most imtelligent guys on the planet because he thinks people must have encryption, there is other stuff going on and only the LEA types know it!


.

[PaulR]

PaulR,
Hope your first name is not Ron? Nearly all software is backdoored, you get the drift, that includes TC, there is next to nothing online that cannot be deciphered.

Open source works two ways, e.g. you can use it to your own ends, whilst claiming its Open Source, e.g. the binary running on your PC need not be the same as the binary running on a Russian machine, but they can both claim to be Open Source, really?



SPOILER ALERT

Do Not Bother With Encryption its like a red flag to LEA, they already have all the algorithms available to crack whatever you dream up.

What Do I Do : Nothing, like do not record it electronically, think Dread Pirate Roberts, where is he located now? Some USofA Penitentiary, with a Life Sentence and he was the kingpin behind the Silk Road website !


Whole drive encryption, you are having a laugh, surely and who does all this encryption and decryption, like Uncle Microsoft has decided wow we must have encryption as a feature, even although it was made illegal as a munitions export years ago?


Get a life Bill Gates is not one of the richest and most imtelligent guys on the planet because he thinks people must have encryption, there is other stuff going on and only the LEA types know it!


.

If there is a back door to TrueCrypt, the audit didn't find it. That doesn't mean it cannot be deciphered, but it would require a strict brute force attack (which seems to be the case here, since they're asking to use resources from cloud computing companies.)

Encryption is not a "red flag" to law enforcement. Law enforcement and government uses encryption. Some private sector information is all but required to be encrypted; see the standards of HIPAA, PII, etc.

If having an encrypted device was a red flag, then anyone with an iPhone or modern Android would be in trouble since they are encrypted by default. Not to mention everyone with a home wifi network.

As far as "encryptions as munitions", you should look up Executive Order 13026 which President Clinton signed back in 1999. I think the main restrictions left are to terrorist groups/rogue states/etc. but then we aren't selling them much anyway.

[Laughing]

Hhhmmm, this might be a second thread, same topic. Off to look....

[Oregonmama]

but why would he put any info on his computer, even encrypted, about his crime?

I know, why do criminals do anything right?

but just wondering what his motive would be

Mark Sievers in another case had a special code in his diary online for entries. Psychopaths are psychopaths and will fight until the very end .

[LietKynes]

Hoping for some closure for her family !!!
What a heartbreaking case.

[Barb Wire]

<snip> Didn't Josh Powell`s father -- that he was having an affair with Susan Powell, we obtain the father-in-law`s private journals. Tonight, police release part two, revealing his twisted sex obsession with his own daughter-in-law, Susan, the diaries complete with undercover photos of Susan, some of them so graphic,

<snip> Did the sex-obsessed father-in-law mastermind Susan`s death and the murders of her two little boys? He`s only behind bars for a few more months before he`s released, on another charge. Are police on the move? Will there be charges against Josh Powell`s father-in-law?

<snip> Live to Salt Lake City, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young stockbroker, a mother of two, Susan Cox Powell. After bizarre and outrageous claims by her father-in-law that he was having a torrid affair with her, we get our mitts on his private journals. This is really round two released by police, these private journals that reveal his twisted and sick obsession with his own daughter- in-law, Susan Powell, now missing.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP.../21/ng.01.html
NANCY GRACE
Is this all true Or am I lost

[abeaman02]

but why would he put any info on his computer, even encrypted, about his crime?

I know, why do criminals do anything right?

but just wondering what his motive would be

I think it will be about some type of secret that he himself had or researching ways to dispose of a body. I don't think he will be describing the murder himself but just something about what he was thinking or doing

[savagewatch]

I hope they find her. As far as Josh goes, I hope he's very unhappy where he should be now.

[dgfred]

and very hot.

[LietKynes]

Sure... Susan was 'having an affair' with her father-in-law. Riiighht.
Only in his 'toilet' of a mind !!

At the very least -- he freaked her out.
And I think she feared him.

[Hatfield]

Found this link below that explains about standard encryption which most people with newer PCs probably dont even realize that by using a Microsoft Account ID to log into their PC they are already getting hard drive encryption by default on newer PCs. Its why Microsoft began requiring us to use a microsoft account ID to log onto our PCs. Its because it allowed them to backup our encryption key in case we ever forgot our PC password it then allows us to work with them to get a new ID which automatically sends the encryption key to our machines so we can get to our encrypted data.

Its really not as hard as it seems. The link explains it some. What it basically does is encrypts your data and you dont even know it and as you go to access your machine it uses the encryption KEY to un-encrypt the data and give it to you for access. So you really dont even know its happening.

Why we need it is so if someone steals our laptop then they cannot get to our files without knowing our Microsoft Account ID which then accesses their server to pull up the encryption key. If you lose your PC then nobody can really ever see your data on an encrypted machine.

The link below explains how you can see if your machine is using encryption or not.

Back when JP was around he likely had too old a machine for auto encyption and so he likely had to take some action with some 3rd party software to enable encryption so it does mean he likely went out of his way to encrypt some data and thus it means he wanted to keep some data protected from eyes of others. Its anybodys guess as to what he may have been trying to hide.

I hope LE can break the encryption to see what he was hiding.

https://www.howtogeek.com/173592/win...-need-to-know/