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this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
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Just because they can do X doesn't mean you shouldn't protect against Y.
Just as an example scenario, say border guards took my laptop out of my eyesight. A camera or USB keylogger won't do anything in that case. Hijacking my bootloader though potentially gives them access to my machine without me having any clue.
Secure Boot is useful and worth setting up. But everyone has to decide their own level of comfort when it comes to security.
You need to correctly set it up tho. ie. remove all default keys because some were discovered ages ago anyway.
They could open up the laptop to insert a small device that reads the usb header. Or just replace the guts of the laptop with something else. Or replace one of the usb leads in your bag with one with a tracker. Or sell a usb-c cable with a tracker for cheap in the gift shop.
There's a bunch of other ways to compromise your system and some might be easier than putting a backdoored bootloader on your device.
Also, if it's the TSA, they could almost certainly create a bootloader that was signed by Microsoft to replace any existing one.