Based on what’s reported in this Washington Post article, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency thinks so.   Seems like there are cases of people being searched and forced to not only surrender their laptops and other electronic devices, but to provide passwords and instructions for accessing their systems as well, allowing the officials to create exact copies of all information in the device including documents, browsing history, calendars, email…..everything.

While this has obvious privacy concerns (the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Asian Law Caucus have filed suit to force the disclosure of CBP policies in this situation, including which rules govern the seizing and copying of the contents of electronic devices), it also has serious ramifications for us as security professionals.  What controls will we need to implement and enforce if this practice is found to be acceptable and becomes more common?

 - Andy Brinkhorst