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Super Talent, Toshiba Team Up for Ultimate SSD Power

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:15:28 -0500

Super Talent and Toshiba today announced a new range of co-branded SSDs called the UltraDrive DX. The official press release was largely dedicated to UltraDrive DX’s twin-layer encryption. It features password encryption as its first line of defense and hardware data randomization technology as the second.

Data randomization occurs with every write to the drive but still fails to prevent the drive from marching at sequential read speeds of up to 230 MB/sec and sequential write speeds of up to 180 MB/sec.

“As the first Toshiba co-branded SSD on the market, UltraDrive DX features a Toshiba controller and Toshiba’s MLC NAND flash memories. The DX provides superb security and reliability features combined with cutting edge performance in both read and write speeds,” said Joe James, director of marketing at Super Talent.

Image Credit: Super Talent

New Attacks Crack Basic Wi-Fi Encryption in 60 Seconds

Paul Lilly — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:49:50 -0500

In exactly the same time it takes to cook a batch of minute-rice, computer scientists in Japan claim to have developed a way to crack WPA encryption just as fast.

Security researchers first showed how WPA could be broken last November. The earlier attack worked on a smaller range of WPA devices and took about 12 to 15 minutes to work its mojo. But the Japanese researchers have taken the attack to a new level, according to Dragos Ruiu, organizer of the PacSec security conference where the first WPA hack was demonstrated.

"They took this stuff which was fairly theoretical and they've made it much more practical," Ruiu said.

Both attacks are limited to WPA system using the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TIKP) algorithm, which means if you use a newer WAP2 device or a WPA system based on the Advanced Encryption Standerd (AES) algorithm, you're in the clear. At least for now.

Dell Laptops to Feature Samsung Encrypted SSDs

Paul Lilly — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:53:37 -0500

In what sounds like a simple formula for success, Dell plans to combine one good thing with another good thing for what it hopes will turn out to be a great thing. Or to be less vague, Dell, who offers both SSDs and encrypted drives, will start adding encrypted SSDs to its notebook lineup sometime this summer.

Samsung will manufacture the drives, which will come in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities to start. The self-encrypting drives will automatically encrypt data as it is being saved, "an industry first" for SSDs, according to Samsung and Wave Systems.

"Benefits of hardware encryption over today's software-only encryption approaches include faster performance, better security, and an 'always on' feature," Samsung and Wave Systems said in a statement. "Because encryption keys and access credentials are generated and stored within the drive hardware, they never leave its confines and are never held in the operating system or software."

No word yet on exactly when Dell will implement the new SSDs or at what price points.

How To: Encrypt Your Entire Hard Drive The Easy Way Using TrueCrypt

Justin Kerr — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:30:00 -0600

Hard drive encryption sounds like an intimating concept, mostly because it is. The thought of taking your precious files, then using a mathematical formula to convert them into random noise before scattering them back across your disk is a hard sell. The harsh reality is, mobile computing is on the rise, and so is laptop theft. Depending on who you ask, anywhere from 500,000 to over 1,000,000 laptops are lost or stolen in the US each year. In some cases, the data on the hard drive is often more valuable than the machine itself.

To determine if disk encryption is something you should be considering, simply ask yourself if your PC contains anything you wouldn’t want posted publically on the internet. If the answer to this is yes (and I assume for most of us it is) then encryption is worth considering.

What you'll Need:

* A Windows/MAC/Linux PC
* A Backup of Your Data (Just a Precaution!)

*A Hard Drive (Or Any Detachable Media)

    * 30 Minutes For Each 100 GB of Hard Drive

      Space Encrypted (Estimate)

AND

- True Crypt Installer
Free, Version 6.1a or Better

- ISO Burning Software
Free, CDBurnerXP

The good news is you no longer need to be a member of the CIA to lock down your machine with government level encryption. In fact, one of the most highly regarded and powerful encryption tools available is both free, and open source (our favorite combination!) True Crypt allows you to protect either all your data, or only what you choose. You can mask your boot drive and sensitive documents, while leaving your games or other non generic data in the clear. While no encryption process is without risk, True Crypt is designed to put your mind at ease, and takes no chances with your data. The process can be reversed at any time even without being able to boot into windows.

So if you're ready to get started click the jump to learn step by step how to protect your data.

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Tools and Determine what Kind of Protection you Need

Upon entering TrueCrypt you will notice that the interface is very simple and well laid out. The majority of the UI displayed on the main screen (shown above) has more to do with the primary focus of TrueCrypt up until version 5; the mounting and unmounting of encrypted file containers. These are for user’s who don’t feel the need to encrypt their entire drive. TrueCrypt allows you to create a single file which is essentially a huge blob of encrypted data. Using the above interface you are able to mount this file as volume which will appear to Windows as a standard drive. Once done, you will be able to read and write from the drive while TrueCrypt provides on the fly encryption/decryption.

This is an elegant solution if you merely wish to protect a group of files and not your entire partition. For super sensitive information this isn’t really your best bet however. If your primary drive is unencrypted, parts of files you are working with may be cached locally in non encrypted areas of the drive. Generally office suites will maintain a revision cache as a hidden file in the same directory as the original, but content can transparently jump into your windows swap file as well.

The most useful application for using this method is in conjunction with a USB key. By creating a blob of encrypted data and carrying around the truecrypt.exe file, you can securely transport data that is safe even if you lose your thumb drive.

2. Begin The Process Of Encrypting Your System Drive

Assuming that you're ready to move ahead and encrypt your system drive, follow along through the next set of steps. If you determined based on section 1 that an encrypted container will suit your needs, you can simply click on Create Volume within the main screen. The steps that follow are very similar to what you find when you encrypt a system partition, so you can still follow along.

To start encrypting a system partition begin by clicking the System tab in the top left hand side of the window, then select Encrypt System Partition/Drive. The correct menu option is highlighted in the screen shot above.

The first choice you will have to make during the encryption process gives you a pretty good overview of just how many scenarios this suite was designed to handle. If you select the Normal system encryption, each and every sector of your hard drive will be converted to what looks like random noise and can only ever be read with your master password. Most people will want this option.

The Hidden encryption method actually allows you to create two mirror OS’s protected by different passwords. Using this method, should you be coerced into entering your password by a third party, you will have the option of using a password that presents them with a version of your OS which is completely insulated from the other. Applications for this feature for average citizens are somewhat limited, but 007 if you're reading this section, this one is for you.

Generally if you're using a home brewed PC it is safe to click Yes here, thereby allowing True Crypt to encode the host protected area. If you are using an OEM machine on the other hand, some of these systems store recovery data and RAID drivers in this area. The best way to determine if it is safe to encrypt the host area is to check and see if your system has any kind of built in recovery tools accessible during startup. If you do, and you cannot locate these files on a separate partition, your host area may be in use and shouldn’t be encrypted.

If you're not sure it’s best to say No. The information stored in the host protected area is generally not sensitive and if you answer this one incorrectly your system may simply refuse to boot following the encryption. If you do answer this incorrectly and your system refuses to boot fear not, everything we are doing here can be undone outside of Windows. Worst case scenario is that you're forced to decrypt using the rescuce CD and start over. This process is covered in the troubleshooting section. Answer the question to the best of your knowledge and click Next.

It is very important during this stage of the installation that you accurately identify if you are dual booting into multiple OS’s. Since TrueCrypt writes its own boot loader to the first sector of the drive, failure to answer this correctly will result in your boot loader being over written. Currently the only multi boot loaders that are support are the Windows MBL (this is default interface that automatically installs with Windows 2000, XP, or Vista) and the Linux alternative Grub.

If you select Multi-boot TrueCrypt will move your boot loader from the maser boot record to another sector on the hard drive, out of harm’s way. When you are ready to proceed, click Next.

3. Select An Encryption Algorithm & Create a Password

TrueCrypt is a very full featured encryption tool and the author's commitment to customization shows. When you reach the encryption options step (shown above) you will be able to pick from the dizzying array of encryption algorithms built in. But for those of you who don’t feel like putting in years of research on learning the differences of each, I highly recommend selecting AES.

Advanced Encryption Standard, which is also known as Rijndael is the encryption standard used by the U.S. government and is widely regarded as a benchmark in terms of security. In addition to being very robust, it is surprisingly lightweight computationally. What does all this mean? It gives you super strong protection and very fast encryption/decryption. This is becomes extremely important since everything you do from now on will need to be encrypted/decrypted on the fly. The default Hash Algorithm – RIPEMD-160 is a good match and doesn’t need to be changed. When you are ready to proceed, click Next.

The next screen will allow you to set your master password and this step is by far the most important yet. Many people out of habit, and convenience, select relatively weak passwords. And while a simple three letter password might be good enough to protect your Maximum PC comment account, you wouldn’t actually use “dog” to protect your bank accounts would you? Below the password selection window True Crypt will give you some tips for selecting a good password. In addition here are some practical and sound tips for selecting a password.

1.) TrueCrypt is going to strongly recommend that you select a password that is 20 characters or more. Selecting a password of this length, with a good mix of non dictionary alpha numeric’s, is generally considered “unguessable”. The only way to unlock a properly encrypted system would be to use a method known as brute force. This method essentially tries every combination of characters until it stumbles upon your password. Usually, they make use of the dictionary to help narrow down the choices. Assuming you aren’t using common words, a 20 character password could take decades to brute. Anything less will reduce the amount of time it would take a crack your code, but is still ultimately much more secure then when you started. If you don't think you can remember a 20 character password just continue ahead. You're better off picking a smaller password you can remember, then a longer one you will forget. .

2.) Need to use words for the dictionary? Try using them backwards, or splice in upper and lower case letters or punctuation.

3.) Using a number combination that might be guessable? Try using the shift key to turn them into random looking symbols.

4.) Make sure you can remember it! In the next step we will build an ISO CD that will be able to restore your computer to its current state but if you forget your password 2 months from now your out of luck. TrueCrypt offers no means of recovering you're password, lost passwords are gone forever, along with your data.

5.) If you absolutely have to write it down, don’t stick it to your monitor!

The guys at TrueCrypt clearly leave no details to chance and now give you the opportunity to salt your encryption keys by using random data generated by your mouse movements. It’s important to notice that this step, though comforting, is highly unnecessary. Before you ever move your mouse you can see from the content pool that a great deal of information already exists. This is because TrueCrypt is taking random data from all over your system before you even begin. This includes information from clocks, globally unique ID’s, serial numbers from hardware components, etc.

My point here is to simply let you know that wearing all the material off your mouse pad during this step won’t help you much. Slowly swirl your way slowly down to NEXT and click past the screen shown below that display’s a snippet of your encryption keys.

4. Create a Rescue CD

The next few screens are going to walk you through creating a rescue CD which is a required step for a very good reason. If something goes wrong during the encryption stage the rescue CD is the only tool that will allow you to recover your data. The rescue CD contains a utility which will allow you to decrypt your drive or restore your master boot record if it ever becomes damaged. Damage to the MBR can happen in many ways, but it is most often caused by some invasive form of DRM that embeds itself in the MBR or some form of malware like a root kit. Essentially anything that writes to the MBR following the installation of TrueCrypt stands a pretty good chance of making your system unbootable.

Your rescue CD is your first and last line of defense here. In the troubleshooting section we will go over how to use the rescue CD should something ever go wrong. In the dialogue box above you’re a picking a path where TrueCrypt will deposit the recovery CD's ISO file. After clicking Next you will be reminded again to burn the ISO to CD and this is where CDBurnerXP (free CD burning utility) comes in handy. This step can be “faked” by using an ISO mounting tool such Windows Virtual CDROM but doing so is not recommended and should be done so at your own peril.

It is also important that you create a Rescue disk for each separate computer you encrypt. The reasons for this are explained in the troubleshooting section if you are interested.

Assuming you were successful in verifying the rescue CD TrueCrypt will give you the option to move ahead.

5. Start With a Clean Slate by Scrubbing Your Old Data

If the disk you are encrypting is new, this step won’t be necessary. Essentially what TrueCrypt is allowing you to do here is to wipe any data that you have deleted previously, but might still be recoverable using third party tools. Because True Crypt will only encrypt your current or new files, everything done and deleted in the past will still in the clear.

You have several wipe options available to pick from and they range in both the amount of time needed, and effectiveness. The higher options also defiantly suffer from a high rate of diminishing returns. 3 pass setting is generally enough to defeat all but the most advanced and expensive governmental tools, while the 35 pass setting is insanely overkill and generally a waste of your time. Depending on the size of the drive, and the setting selected, this step can range from a few hours to several days. Once you're ready to continue click Next.

6. Run the Pretests & Get Ready to Encrypt

Next True Crypt is going to test your memory by restarting your computer, and giving you the opportunity to enter your master password for yourself.

If you fail to enter the password successfully (or have forgotten it) do not fear, your still safe at this stage. Following the reboot TrueCrypt will bring you back into Windows where you will be forced to reconfirm your master password. Since no encryption has been performed yet, this is simply a test to make sure you have your login information memorized. From this point forward, forgetting your master password will result in 100 per cent data loss (except the backups you made right?).

Now simply Click Encrypt to begin the process. You will still be able to use the OS while the encryption process is underway. The TrueCrypt driver keeps track of what data is, and is not encrypted, and operates completely transparently

Congratulations you're all done! If you ever run into any issues while booting, continue on to the troubleshooting section for a look at how to use the rescue CD.

7. Troubleshooting

The issue you are most likely to encounter at any given point is a corruption of your MBR. This will prevent you from being able to enter your password, and will likely result in errors that would suggest you are dealing with an empty drive. If this proves to be an ongoing problem, the most likely culprit is a recently installed application with an invasive form of DRM, or a root kit. Keep in mind here that all troubleshooting steps require your password. If you forget it, TrueCrypt cannot help you recover it. Any back doors or secret methods of decrypting the drive would defeat the security benefits.

When the Rescue CD boots up (shown above) you will have the option to either:

(1) Permanently Decrypt System Partition

This restores your system to its original state. You data will once again be in the clear, as it was before. Your password will be required to begin the decryption, and it’s important to note that if you are encrypting several computers, you will need to keep separate CD’s. This restore function, as well as all the tasks listed below are specific to the password you chose before creating the disk. If your password becomes compromised and you decide to change it, you should destroy the old CD as it can be used to decrypt your machine using the old passphrase.

(2) Restore TrueCrypt Boot Loader

This will repair a TrueCrypt system that refuses to boot. The rescue CD however cannot restore you password. The password is the cipher used to decrypt the information on your hard drive. The TrueCrypt boot loader is simply the means of entering it.

(3) Restore Key Data

If for any reason your password should fail to enter (and you're sure you typed it in correctly) run this function. It will prompt you to enter the password again, only this time it will be verified using encrypted data on the CD. Assuming that it matches the information encoded on the Rescue Disk, it will repair the entry on your hard drive.

(4) Restore Original System Loader

If you used step 1 to decrypt your drive, and you had a multi-boot loader installed prior to TrueCrypt's installation, you will want to run this step. When combined with step 1, your system will be completely restored to it's pre-encryption state.

Quantum Encryption System Deemed Unbreakable, Won't Send You Hurling Through Time

Alex Castle — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:25:22 -0500

ImageSource: US Air Force

In what may be the biggest thing to happen to cryptography in a very long time, the world’s first computer network built with working quantum encryption technology has been demonstrated in Vienna. The network connects six locations with a total 200 km of fiber optic cable and the encryption system is said to be completely unbreakable, according to the BBC.

The network transmits a stream of millions of individual photons a second through the cable, and can detect if anyone has attempted to listen in on the stream.

Gilles Brassard, of Montreal University explained to the BBC how the system can be unbreakable: “All quantum security schemes are based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, on the fact that you cannot measure quantum information without disturbing it. Because of that, one can have a communications channel between two users on which it’s impossible to eavesdrop without creating a disturbance. An eavesdropper would create a mark on it.”

If an intrusion is detected, the data transfer is immediately rerouted through different nodes.

Pretty cool, huh? Let us know what you think of this new technology after the break.

The Pirate Bay Wants to Encrypt the Internet

Chris Moody — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:06:14 -0500

The folks behind the popular torrent site,The Pirate Bay have added another project to their list. They want to encrypt the Internet. Not just little pieces, but the whole thing. They have named it Transparent end-to-end encryption for the Internets, or IPETEE for short. The encryption would happen on the network level so most anything could be encrypted transmitted and decrypted, providing the systems have adopted the technology on both sides. It would be completely transparent to the user, unlike say IPSEC on IPv4. IPv6 may make this moot if its implementation is more polished (and we will have to leave IPv4 sometime)

Apparently the European Union’s move going to a DMCA like copyright enforcement effort is what spurred this interest from the Sweden based group.

I love anything that keeps our privacy, private. I do have to wonder if it’s going to really be practical or worth it to encrypt everything. It adds overhead to bandwidth, and increases loads on CPUs. Granted these are minimal, but on busy servers this will pile up and run up costs, which would impede adoption.

Of course it still has to be launched, and track records count. The Pirate Bay’s other unlaunched projects include: The Video Bay, music site PlayBle, and a new secure version of the P2P protocol. IPETEE is a much more ambitious and involved project than any of those. We will have to wait and see if there will be enough interest to get it going. In the mean time we can be entertained by their legal section.

What do you think of total encryption of all internet traffic? Is it worth it? Let us know in the comments section!

White Paper: HD Video Encryption

Zack Stern — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:01:57 -0500

A replicator encrypts content on a Blu-ray or HD DVD disc using a Media Key and Media Key Block provided by the AACS Licensing Authority (AACS LA). The AACS LA provides the media player (either a stand-alone device or a PC application) with a corresponding Device Key. The media player combines its Device Key with the Media Key Block to calculate the Media Key. If the calculated Media Key matches the Media Key on the disc, the content can be decrypted.

We’re philosophically opposed to any technology that impairs our fair-use rights, but the Hollywood studios insist on infesting their products with annoyances such as HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) and AACS (Advanced Access Content System) which do just that. Since we also believe knowledge is power, here’s a primer on how those systems work.

But before we dive into the details, allow us to point out the absurdity of digital rights management—in all its many forms. DRM treats those of us who purchase movies and music, and then make backup copies or transfer that content to our PCs and digital media players, as criminals. We are not pirates; we are Hollywood’s best customers. And we understand that purchasing content is a prerequisite to claiming fair-use rights.

HDCP and AACS add to the complexity and the cost of every PC, every HD DVD and Blu-ray drive and disc, every monitor, every commercial operating system, most every A/V receiver, and every HD television on the market—and all it takes to defeat this supposedly invincible technology is an easily obtained program: SlySoft’s AnyDVD HD (www.slysoft.com).

The Cryptonomicon

AACS is a cryptographic system designed to limit the output and recording of protected content to methods the content owner approves of. Unlike the simpler CCS (Content Scramble System) used to encrypt commercial DVDs, AACS uses a set of keys that can be tied to a specific player—much like a serial number.

The AACS process results in a “play” or “don’t play” validation. A Blu-ray or HD DVD disc includes a Media Key Block that is combined with a playback device’s unique set of keys to generate a Media Key, which is then combined with another piece from the disc—the Volume ID key. (Only a commercial burner can reach the hidden section of that disc to write the Volume ID key, a technique designed to thwart disc-to-disc copies on consumer-grade equipment.) The combination of aforementioned keys culminates in the Volume Unique Key. This key is used to decrypt the disc’s title keys and then—finally—the movie itself. At this point, the content moves into the HDCP chain, where it is re-encrypted until it reaches the display (we’ll explain HDCP in more detail shortly).

If an AACS device is compromised, newly pressed content can be published with an updated Media Key Block that is incompatible with the compromised device’s keys. This, in essence, revokes the known cracked keys and disables the associated players. The new Media Key Block, however, will continue to function with any older keys that remain secure.

Secret Handshakes

HDCP is an interconnect system that works hand-in-glove with AACS. Designed to protect the transmission of high-bandwidth audiovisual streams—at rates up to 5GB/s—HDCP has been deployed in all three of the major digital display interfaces: DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It is also supported in the less-common UDI (Unified Display Interface) and GVIF (Gigabit Video Interface). Since it must be everywhere in the display chain, you’ll also find HDCP in videocards, Blu-ray and HDVD DVD drives, HDTVs, A/V receivers, and CableCARD digital CATV tuners. The technology can also be incorporated into repeaters (which can be essential for long cable runs) and switches (crucial for connecting more than one player to a display with a single digital-video input).

The HDCP authentication process is the same for every content player: Software on the PC or set-top box generates a playback signal, which initiates a handshake process. Using a temporary random number, unique keys built into each HDCP transmit device (e.g., a videocard) and receive device (e.g., an HDTV) are used to generate a checksum. If the checksums are identical at each stage, the content is green-lit for playback.

This process is repeated every few seconds, and the signal is reauthenticated at each node in order to prevent the signal from being intercepted midstream (to prevent anyone from tapping into and recording the digital bit stream). If the handshake fails at any point along the way, that authentication failure is reported to the playback software.

Furthermore, the audio-video stream is re-encrypted before it enters the HDCP pipeline, and it’s decrypted when it arrives at the final playback device.

Don't Hate the Player

Representatives from the companies responsible for creating these technologies are quick to point out that they’ve developed “content protection,” not “copy protection,” systems. The technologies are inert, they say; it’s up to the movie studios to deploy them as copy-protection schemes. HDCP, for instance, simply notifies the player if there’s a non-HDCP device in the playback chain. Software in the player then executes the rules, (established by the media owner) that are encoded within the content.
One of those rules is known as managed copy, which allows the consumer to make a limited number of legal backup copies of an HD DVD or Blu-ray disc or transfer the copy-protected content to another device, such as a media server. Theoretically, this backup copy would be subject to verification through an online verification system, which would require the playback device to be connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, managed copy still hasn’t been implemented in the real world.

The Image Constraint Token is a more onerous rule that gives content owners the power to make the software stop playing content or downsample video to 960x540 resolution—a fraction of the image quality you thought you were buying—if HDCP is missing at any stage in the playback chain. This can occur when the video is played through an analog component connection, but there are also many early HDTVs, videocards, and computer monitors in people’s homes that were manufactured prior to the development of AACS and HDCP. Owners of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 HD DVD drive should be aware that since that device uses a USB connection—considered to be an unsecure display path—it is also susceptible to the Image Constraint Token. Sony’s PlayStation 3, on the other hand, is fully HDCP and AACS compliant (unless you’re using one of its analog display connections).
The Image Constraint Token is invoked on a per-disc basis, and as far as we know, no studio has activated the technology in their current releases. In fact, rumor has it that they’ve informally agreed not to implement it until at least 2012; but that is of little consolation to anyone who’s still using non-HDCP gear.

Pretty Good Privacy is Pretty Legally Protected

Erin Simon — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:17:00 -0600

A federal magistrate judge has ruled that a criminal suspect has a Fifth Amendment right not to divulge his PGP passphrase. The suspect, Sebastian Boucher, was charged with transporting child pornography on his laptop across the US-Canadian border. Customs agents had searched Boucher's laptop in December 2006 and found kiddie porn on the Z drive without entering a password. Boucher was arrested and the laptop was shut down. When investigators later tried to access the Z drive again, they found it encrypted with Pretty Good Privacy. Prosecutors then got a grand jury to issue a subpoena ordering Boucher to turn over his password. He refused, and prosecutors offered to let him type the password into the laptop with nobody looking. Magistrate Judge Jerome Niedermeier quashed (read as: cancelled) the subpoena, finding that even the prosecutors' compromise would require Boucher to give protected evidence against himself.

The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination, but not everything that might incriminate you falls within that protection. For example, you can be forced to turn over your fingerprints, blood, or handwriting, because it's already obvious that you have fingerprints, blood, and can write. The inquiry hinges on whether the what you're being asked to do is "testimonial," whether it divulges facts about you and what you know. The Supreme Court has analogized the difference between testimonial and nontestimonial acts to the difference between the combination to a lock and a physical key; you can be compelled to turn over a key, but being forced to turn over a combination would reveal that you knew the combination. Revealing the contents of your mind is testimonial, so it's protected by the Fifth Amendment.

Magistrate Judge Niedermeier found the PGP passphrase more akin to a combination, because inputting the password would reveal that Boucher actually knew the password. Whether people have a Fifth Amendment right to keep their passwords private has been debated in legal scholarship for a long time; this is the first published decision to enter the fray. Don't think this settles the issue, though. Magistrate judges are low on the totem pole, so expect this to be appealed.