this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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AFAIK it's not that easy to access data on the machine while it's running unless they can bypass the lock screen. People pick stupid passwords for their user accounts so it's totally possible to get in in those cases, but otherwise dont you need really sophisticated side channel attacks to get data out of memory on locked system? It's not like there is some port on the MOBO you can just plug into to get access to RAM
It's also possible to keep the lockscreen from coming up. The mouse cursor jigglers that folks buy as pranks these days started off as another device LEOs use during raids. I think Wiebetech invented that one, too.
As for dumping the contents of RAM from a running machine, look up "memory forensics." It's a thing that LEOs have done for quite a few years as well.
I did some work on this a decade or so ago in college. Data stays in memory a lot longer than you'd think at room temp, like minutes, not seconds. If you spray the modules down with an upside down compressed air can, you have plenty of time to remove it, and plug it into some that can dump it to persistent storage.