Auto Reboot

Because all encrypted devices store their encryption keys in their RAM after you first entered the device password during the start up, bad actors could try to read your encryption keys out of the RAM, even when your device is just screen locked.

Because of this, we want to automatically turn off our devices to clear our encryption keys from the RAM.

Automatic reboot can be configured on all PC platforms and some Android devices. Instructions for the native functions of the various platforms are provided below. No additional programs need to be installed.

PC

Linux

On Linux, you can use crontab for automatic jobs such as auto reboot. For example, to set the PC to restart every morning at 4 a.m.:

• Open Terminal (Command Line)
• Enter this command in the terminal: sudo crontab -e

An editor will now open (or you will need to select one, TIP: select nano)

• Paste the following line at the bottom: 0 4 * * * /sbin/shutdown -r
  • To do this, copy the line above
  • Go back to the command line in the editor
  • Right-click > Paste
  • First press Control + S for “safe”
    • then press Control+X for “exit”
  • Done

MacOS

• Click on the Apple logo in the menu bar.
• System Preferences
• Energy Saver
• Schedule

The top checkbox can be used to specify when the PC should be restarted when it is turned off. We are not interested in this. We want to automatically turn off the PC to clear the RAM.

• So we select the bottom checkbox
• Every day
• Choosing the reboot time is up to you, but we would recommend a time at night (e.g., 2 a.m.), as this is when we usually do not use the computer. Additionally, house searches are often conducted in the morning, so rebooting our computer beforehand makes sense.

Windows

We can use the Task Scheduler to shut down the computer, restart it, or perform any action once or at regular intervals.

If you prefer to follow a video tutorial, there is also YouTube video on this topic.

• Enter taskschd.msc in the Start search and open Task Scheduler.
• In the right-hand bar, click on Create basic task
  • Give the task a name, e.g. Auto Reboot
  • Execute whether the user is logged on or not
• Go to the next tab and select Triggers
  • Daily
  • Set the restart time (e.g. 2 a.m.).
  • Start date and start time: Select the current time i.e. valid from now
• OK and go to the next tab Action. Here, select Start a program
  • Now enter shutdown in the Program/script field
  • Now enter /r /f in the Add arguments field
  • The \r stands for reboot. If you only enter /f there, the PC will not restart automatically, but will simply remain off.
• Next and go to the next tab Conditions
• Make sure that under the “Power” section:
  • the top two checkboxes are unchecked, i.e. off
  • and the last one, “Wake the computer to run this program,” is checked.
• Click Next to check everything and then click “Finish.”
• Finally, you will probably have to enter your password.

Mobile devices

Android

An automatic restart can also be set on common Android devices. GrapheneOS even offers the option to restart the device whenever it has been unlocked for X hours.

A restart at a fixed time can be set as follows:

• Settings
• Utilities
• Scheduled power on and off

Here you can now specify when the device should always shut down and when it should restart.

iOS

Unfortunately, iOS does not currently offer a function for scheduled restarts.

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