Alleged fraudster has until next week to decrypt her hard drive for prosecutors

Prosecutors are keen to discover what is on the encrypted laptop of Ramona Fricosu, a Colorado woman accused of committing financial fraud.

The case has raised interesting questions of whether you can be forced by law to hand over your password, or decrypt your computer.

Fricosu has certainly managed to rally some supporters, including civil rights groups such as the EFF which argued that if she was forced to decrypt her drive or hand over its contents, it would be a violation of Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination.

Now, according to an Associated Press report, a federal court has denied…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.