Partition Blocking

I have a worry that someone may live boot using USB and format my laptop partitions. I understand that to simply view and modify partitions (encrypted or clear) all that needs to be done is boot into live USB and use a partition program.

Is it possible to prevent this?

Note: my laptop isn’t currently operational, made a post about it here. I did Google this but found unrelated topics

If the drive is encrypted I believe in order to work with it you have to unlock the fs using the authentication pass but I don’t work with encryptfs because it makes some system fixes/tweaks more complicated/dangerous. What your problem sounds like is physical security, ie don’t if you’re worried about someone getting access to the laptop then don’t let them get physical access to the laptop.
Buy one of those computer locks.

If you don’t want someone to be able to live boot the machine disable usb boot support in the BIOS, and set a BIOS admin password. Be forwarned an admin pass will depending on the settings prevent anyone including you from logging into the Setup, and Boot Menu without that password. If you set it don’t lose it otherwise you’ll have to call the manufacturer.

Humanity, is and always will be the weakest link in the digital security chain… (sigh)

Disabling USB boot support is probably the easiest option. Then setting a bios password, but its might not be as secure as you think: https://bios-pw.org/.

But if they have physical access to your laptop they could simply remove the hard drive or just steal the device. So USB boot might not make a difference.

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