Talk:End-user Computer Security/Main content/Some measures that are primarily physical

Metal boxes or containers (such as briefcases) lined with metal foil, have the potential of shielding malware RF communications
After performing some experiments, completely wrapping a mobile phone in metal foil does indeed appear to block mobile-network, WiFi, and Bluetooth communications to and from a mobile phone. However, if there are some slight gaps in the wrapping, there is the chance that the blocking might fail. Anyway, with such principles certain metal boxes might be automatically capable of performing such shielding. For metal boxes that have the gaps just mentioned, covering over those gaps with metal foil (such as cheap aluminium foil used for cooking), might provide sufficient shielding to make the whole box a shield for the contents of the box. Likewise, lining containers such as briefcases with metal foil has the potential of turning the containers into shielded containers.

Perhaps such information should be integrated into this chapter, perhaps under the "Metal boxes", "Padlock-able laptop bag", and "Combination lock briefcase" sections. If doing so, linking to the "Wireless Communications" chapter may be a good idea&mdash;see the note here.

When using planar materials, unrepeatable-pattern principle can be better if...
With respect to the "Perhaps the simplest and best idea" subsection of the §"Tamper-evident security-system ideas" under §"Exploiting unrepeatable patterns for tamper evidence" of this chapter 5 (labelled "Some measures that are primarily physical"), it can be better to use transparent or mesh materials, and then to layer such materials on top of each other. The non-opaqueness and the layering, induce unrepeatable patterns in security photographs taken, that have stronger unrepeatability. For example, why not layer several layers of translucent shell-suit material?

Additionally, if you use a material that makes use of a variety of colours that is on the material in a haphazard fashion, this can result in greater unrepeatability. If you further choose unusual colours, and maybe some metallic colours (like silver), shimmer colours, and/or iridescent colours (like the appearance of the underside of CDs), this can result in even greater unrepeatability. The use of holographic materials and/or irregularly textured/bumpy materials might result in even more unrepeatability. These things can perhaps be induced by the simple application of a variety of art paints in a particular way.

Unrepeatable-pattern principle can be better if a special type of photography is used....
Using X rays or T rays for the security photography recording the unrepeatable patterns can be better where patterns have a 3D aspect. An adversary may think that the only pattern to duplicate is the one that is visible. But if you use X rays or T rays, the recorded pattern may be at some depth that only you know, making it even harder for an adversary to repeat the material configuration such that the repeated configuration also repeats the same X ray or T ray patterns.

Also, even without a 3D aspect in the unrepeatability patterns, other electromagnetic photography can be used for potentially improved security. For example, could RF distortion induced by some unrepeatable-pattern configuration be captured as security images?

These ideas link to the ideas present in §"Measuring physical properties for authentication" in the "Broad security principles" chapter.

Potentially better terminology to use, and other potential improvements, for §⟪Specifically for goods in physical transit⟫
A web-page on the puri.sm website uses the term 'anti-interdiction' to describe measures aimed at preventing and/or detecting MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks during the transit process. It might be worthwhile using this terminology in this section to align better to the terms used in the "secure computing" community. There is also potentially useful info at the web-page that perhaps can be added to this book, and in particular to this section.

Research around “main idea” sub-section.
  Photo of pattern bits and pieces that tended to form patterns not readily destroyed enough in the opening of the security container
 * In respect to the adding of shredded optical discs such that light-refraction distortions are added to the unrepeatable-pattern material, I found it to be not so effective, probably because refraction distortion/deformation wasn’t strong enough. Iridescence effect (“rainbow” effect) from shredded discs, was probably considered not significant enough in light of the effects obtained from the combination of transparent pieces, colour-tinted semi-transparent pieces, and reflective pieces.
 * Adding colour-tinted semi-transparent bits to the mix is likely important for increasing pattern complexity, and for making it harder to duplicate the pattern. If the bits can be shaped so as also to create visual deformations/distortions (like the refractive distortions of a glass sphere), then this would probably improve security even more. Have tried creating colour-tinted transparent bits using sugar and water heated up into a kind of gel that afterwards cools to become solid. Certainly it works in terms of creating such semi-transparent coloured bits, but such bits end-up being sticky, which is undesirable—it means that the security patterns tend not to be disturbed upon removing the secured item from the container (because the bits stick together). If the solution turns into caramel then the stickiness is not there, but then there is invariably a brown tint, which is undesirable from a “colour variety” point of view. Recipe used was approximately: mix together 2 level teaspoons of white sugar, a little paint (for the colour tinting), some water, and a small bit of oil; place in microwave for one minute, and then drop hot liquid on to an oiled surface to create several separate ‘islands’ of the liquid; leave to cool. To overcome final stickiness, I did try coating with varnish, and some other things, but mostly it didn’t seem to work. I thought that perhaps the sugar blobs were sticky on the outside due to the presence of water, so I tried placing them under the grill in an attempt to remove the water from the outside, but it didn’t work to remove the stickiness.
 * Crystals of sugar are not sticky, so how about trying out the making of coloured transparent sugar crystals? Could perhaps work but not sure how to make them. Are copper sulphate crystals made through electrolysis? Could that possibly indicate a path forward?
 * Shattered glass/plastic coated with coloured varnish might be cheaper and easier to make than trying to make colour-tinted sugar blobs. Could perhaps use old CD cases, bubble-wrap pieces, or old spectacles. CD cases seemed inappropriate probably because of its rigidity, and because the shapes produced tended to interlock rather than tumble; such characteristics probably meant that patterns were not easily destroyed upon taking out the secured item (such easy destruction is desirable). Broken glass/plastic from spectacles likewise would probably have the same problem. The friction between bubble-wrap pieces also tends to prevent the security patterns from easily being destroyed. Light pieces also have a tendency of not easily tumbling nor moving; probably the weight of rice grains means that the grains much more easily tumble and move around. Material that tumbles rather than material with friction, interlocking shapes, or a very light weight, is desirable. Rice appears to be such material but it is not transparent and any semi-transparency in it is both quite low and unyielding to being able to bear a variety of coloured tints.
 * Coloured jelly broken up into bits and pieces might work when the item being secured only needs to be secure for a short while, perhaps up to a couple of weeks. The wobbly and flexible nature of jelly means that patterns can perhaps be more unrepeatable and more easily destroyed. By mixing paint in with the jelly, different tints can be created, thereby increasing the pattern complexity and pattern unrepeatability. However, after having left some gelatine jelly solution for a long time, it smelt quite rank, so perhaps jelly would only work for a short while (as just mentioned). Ideally, the bits shouldn’t decay. In this regard, plastic that doesn’t degrade easily, which would otherwise be thrown out, would seem to be good material.
 * If some of the particles/pieces are metallic, and the submerged item is magnetic, then perhaps the removal of the submerged item would more likely result in disturbance of the unrepeatable patterns. Alternatively, static-electricity attraction can be used instead for similar effects.
 * A lubricant or teflon-like spray (maybe furniture-polish spray or WD40) could perhaps be used to make bits very slippery so that they do things like tumble very easily, ensuring that the patterns are destroyed more easily when trying to get to the secured item. Did try furniture polish but it didn’t work with paper-like bits. Think I may also have tried WD40 but again it probably didn’t work with such paper-like bits. If instead WD40 (or some other lubricant) were applied to rice, that might be more effective, that might make the rice tumble more easily.
 * Perhaps adding hair or string, multicoloured by use of differently coloured paints, could increase the pattern complexity and unrepeatability. I have managed to do this for string. String seems to retain its shape quite easily. It probably would be good if the shape of the material sprung into another one upon disturbance—maybe in this regard, fairly-stiff nylon or hair could be better.
 * Perhaps multicoloured rice would work well. But once again, because of the lack of transparency in rice, rice probably wouldn’t be so effective.
 * In order to add a coloured tint to transparent plastic wrapping-type material, paint can be used. However, such plastic that already has a tint may be preferable, as such plastics seem to be more transparent (certain “assorted chocolates” sweet wrappers work well, such boxes of chocolates may also furnish one with good reflective foil having a variety of coloured tints). Have been trying to add tints with paints, and am finding that often the transparency is impaired, probably because of the composition of the paints I am using—they’re not specifically designed for transparent effects I suppose, special paints for transparency would likely be better (maybe glass paints?) Did think about using diluted acrylic paint, built-up using several layers, but probably the transparency issue would still be there with such a method—the paints I am using are probably just not designed for creating transparency effects. Diluting with varnish or water has made painted areas lumpy and streaky, both when the paint has been acrylic paint, and when the paint has been oil paint. Diluting/thinning with white spirit (or turpentine) perhaps could help but I think the same transparency issue would still likely exist with such methods. I have tried diluting oil paints with oil but still can’t achieve the good colour-tinted semi-transparency effect I desire; such diluted oil paint also takes a long time to dry.
 * Perhaps precision in terms of camera positions and angles, is not needed in respect of the security-image photographs. Instead, a video that rotates its viewport all the way round the item, first in the longitudinal direction, and then secondly in the latitudinal direction, can possibly be used. Such videoing may also be a better way to make sure that the entire surface of the container is visually recorded. To effect such a video, rather than rotating the camera, one could possibly have a smartphone camera fixed on a table surface, pointing upwards, with the container rotating above the camera. Closing curtains and using the mobile phone’s flash would probably both be good things to do in respect of reflections from the unrepeatable-pattern material that would otherwise vary in relation to differences in the scene lighting.
 * A sealable transparent flexible pouch may be better for security as more pattern destruction would likely take place after taking out the secured item from such a container. Tinging the pouch with random burn marks, along with deforming it in random ways, might make the bag/pouch itself unrepeatable. If the bag can then be sealed shut (perhaps with glue) such that the bag itself constitutes an opened-evidence mechanism, that could provide even more security. Gluing the container shut can also result in extra security by the greater disturbance of the unrepeatable-pattern material inside the container. Such extra security comes about from the principle of there being greater pattern disturbance in the contents, during the opening of the container. Not all set-ups perhaps would have such a principle in play, and maybe special effort would be needed in the designing of the container to ensure such a principle would apply to the relevant set-up.
 * What if an adversary uses a glue to recreate the precise security patterns, and the glue has the property of evaporating without trace and without disturbance of the precisely recreated patterns? Perhaps using vaseline mixed with differently-coloured paints in the patterns would mitigate against such an attack. The inside surfaces of a transparent pouch could be lined randomly and unevenly with such multicoloured vaseline. After filling the pouch to the brim and beyond with bits, and then closing the pouch tight shut, the bits would disturb the random lining of the multicoloured vaseline. Upon retrieving the secured item, probably the lining patterns would be slightly destroyed, and furthermore, upon trying to reseal the pouch such that it looked like it had never been opened, the lining patterns would likely change even more. Tamper evidence would thereby be induced through such pattern changes in the multicoloured vaseline lining. I did consider whether toothpaste, purely paints on their own, or ultrasound gel mixed with paints, could be used instead of the vaseline-paints mixture just mentioned. Both toothpaste and paints on their own would likely dry out to become hard, making them unsuitable. Ultrasound gel with paint mixed-in works in the short term (over a couple of days) apart from the action of gravity over time, which can destroy the patterns. Vaseline mixed with paints seems to be the best and so far, from experiments, has seemed to have worked over the course of fourteen days (from 17.9.2020 till 30.9.2020)—the patterns seem to have not changed at all. At the end of the testing period, the vaseline was still soft and pliant, meaning that the security patterns formed by the vaseline could still easily be destroyed by disturbance—therefore it was still good for creating tamper evidence after disturbance.
 * After experimentation, I have found there is a problem when the security-pattern material is mostly coloured paper and the like, in that the patterns are not being adequately destroyed during the opening process. Having a ‘splurge’ effect, such that the contents ‘splurge’ out of the container upon opening, probably would improve things. Squeezing the unrepeatable-pattern material into the container, theoretically would beneficially work for creating such a ‘splurging’ effect. But I am having difficulty achieving this. Have tried squeezing (and compressing) pieces from flexible plastic material (such as plastic bags). They do indeed readily expand from a compressed state when the pieces are each on their own, but when you compress a whole bunch of pieces together the expansion rate is not so great—they resist expansion owing to the weight, and inertia of all the pieces together. The contents simply do not ‘splurge’ out; instead, they are just slowly expanding only a little. Adding compressed metal springs in the container could help to achieve the desired effect—a bit like a jack-in-the-box toy. I have tried using a small metal spring from an old pen for this, to improve the “splurging” effect. Closing the container with the spring adequately compressed and adequately positioned, seems to be difficult, and I found it difficult to improve things with the spring from the pen. More broadly, any material having springy (a kind of elasticity) attributes may help to achieve this mechanism. I have tried old kitchen sponges greatly compressed, but the “splurging” effect was just not much improved—still slow. If the container were stretchable and if when the item(s) were secured, the pouch became stretched, that could help facilitate the ‘splurging’ effect. Have tried gluing elastic bands to the inside of such a pouch in order to simulate such stretchability, but the super glue I used wouldn’t work for the sticking of such surfaces—using glue-gun glue might be better . Also have tried using elastic bands around the outside of a see-through pouch, but that has also not improved things much either. Stretched elasticity that has a stronger strength to return to its unstretched state, could improve things, but I’m slightly unsure as to how to create such stretched elasticity in the container, such that the container remains stretched during the time items are secured in the container. Maybe compressed rubber (such as exists in a compressed rubber ball) and/or transparent balloons might be capable of creating such elasticity. Anyway, so far, any ‘splurging’ mechanism I’ve managed to foster, has simply not been strong enough. One of the other problems appears to be that the security-pattern bits I am using have too much friction (maybe they are even a little sticky), and are quite light in terms of weight. Probably largely because of this, the patterns are tending not to be destroyed as much as I would like. Heavier bits like raw rice grains, probably would be better. Rice additionally has a tumbling effect, which is desirable, and I suppose rice can be coated with a lubricant to accentuate the “tumblity” of the grains. Perhaps I could instead try coloured rice in a see-through bag that is rolled-up, where hopefully the unrolling process (which is perhaps needed to get to the secured item[s]) inevitably destroys the patterns to a sufficient-enough degree. But then rice is not much transparent, perhaps meaning resultant patterns aren’t as complex as is required for the security protocol to work sufficiently. Additionally, rolling-up the bag means the surface area making up the pattern images in the security photos is reduced, meaning the patterns are not as complex as they are with bags not rolled-up. Raw rice grains appear to be sometimes semi-transparent; perhaps extremely strong light shone through the grains could create a strong-enough transparency effect in the rice for complex-enough security patterns to be induced. At present, these problems have been significant enough to make me feel as though I have to ‘go back to the drawing board’ with my ideas—it is very much necessary that the unrepeatable security patterns are readily destroyed upon opening the container.
 * If securing just one item, it is better to split up the item into several parts (if possible), where each part is submerged separately in the unrepeatable-pattern material, with the parts spaced apart. This generally improves security because retrieving all the parts then causes more pattern disturbance. If doing such, boxing the parts with radiation-shielded boxes might be a good idea so that adversaries are not then able, through the use of non-invasive scanning equipment, to figure out easily which boxes contain parts vulnerable to tampering attacks. If an adversary were able to do such, they would then possibly be able to tamper with just the key part, and then place the part back into the container without disturbing much the rest of the pattern mix. If on the other hand, they weren’t able to do such, there would be an increased chance that they would have to open every single box, thus resulting in greater security pattern disturbance, which would therefore provide a generally better system of tamper evidence.

==== Research around “Speculating stronger security again with unrepeatable-pattern principle” sub-section. ====
 * Did consider whether a glass of water with coloured oils on its surface, kept completely motionless, could be used for keeping a water-proofed memory stick submerged in it (as a tamper-evident mechanism). A person would photograph the surface patterns, and the photos generated would then be the security-pattern photos. However, when I tried using oil paints for the oils on the surface, it didn’t work—the patterns changed regardless of disturbance to the liquid. Also tried candle wax, but that too didn’t work (probably also tried wax mixed with oil, with the same unsuccessful outcome). Instead of coloured oils, I tried pencil-shaving fragments (probably on top of a film of oil on the water’s surface) but that too didn’t appear to work. A suspension of coloured fragments in a transparent liquid could work well but then the fragments would have to be motionless. How about the oil salad dressing bottles that I think you might see in restaurants? Do they have bits suspended in the oil? Could that perhaps be used? Skin on milk could perhaps be used, if it is easily destroyed when trying to get to the contents. If skin could be created for all inside sides of a transparent container, that could be really good.

Research around “Perhaps the simplest and best idea” sub-section.
After experimenting with crumpling plastic bags, I have realised that such material is too shape retentive&mdash;the crumples tend not to be destroyed easily. The same may well be true also of shell-suit material. In light of such undesirable properties, I have instead employed the use of silk and silk-like fabrics for such unrepeatable-patterns security. So far, over the course of weeks, it is proving to be effective. One issue is that the fabrics can easily move if they are not secured in place&mdash;I have managed to secure them successfully in place, by tucking the fabrics under and between items in the secured area, such that they are pinned, in some fashion, in place. For making sure the patterns haven't changed, I take two photos each with the flash on. The first photo is the historic record of how the patterns should be, and the second is a "latest" photo which enables a check to be made on whether the patterns have changed since the time of the first (historic) photo. By simply switching back and forth between these two photos on my digital camera (which could also be done on a conventional computer), I am able to detect easily, just through standard human vision, whether the patterns are enough the same to conclude that no intrusion into the secured area has occurred. The use of the flash means that I mostly don't need to worry about other light sources disturbing the security images. Using reflective un-patterned silk might be better than other materials: with the flash on, photography can capture a kind of topographical mapping of the subtle "hills and valleys' in the reflective un-patterned silk, which can make the security patterns stronger.

I speculate that using a clear plastic/glass sheet to go in front of, or around a secured area where this kind of unrepeatable-patterns security is employed, could be a good idea. Its purpose would be twofold: 1) it could stop people from accidentally disturbing the security patterns (especially if the sheet is screwed-in place); 2) if fabrics are pinned just by the force of the sheet, somewhat haphazardly behind the sheet, this may result in stronger security patterns that are more easily disturbed when getting to the secured area (such getting would involve the removal of the plastic/glass sheet, and so probably would also cause the 'tumbling down' of the fabrics&mdash;with related security-patterns destruction&mdash; to some extent). Such an idea could be applied to a briefcase or similar container, where the container is made partly transparent or a transparent container is specifically acquired. It could also perhaps be applied to glass display cabinets.

Research around new ideas not yet in the book.

 * The electrical resistances measured between random point pairs could perhaps provide configuration information that would provide an alternative to the use of security-pattern images (the main method that has been researched thus far). The unrepeatable-pattern material would then be made up of bits and pieces of electrical conductors, perhaps of materials of varied resistances, and perhaps together with some electrically-insulating bits and pieces. Such security could be much stronger than the application of the unrepeatable-pattern principle to visual images (such application being what has so far been investigated).

 Photo of transparent plastic pouch filled mostly with transparent or semi-transparent pieces of fabric-like plastic material, with light being shone from the underside into the pouch —looks like an X ray, doesn’t it?
 * Somewhat similar to the measuring of electrical resistances, is shining a light through a transparent container and capturing the image created on the other side, which could perhaps simply be the shadow cast. Such images could provide strong security, and could even be implemented in addition to implementing the conventional image security so far discussed in this research, with both implementations in operation for the same security container.
 * Rather than the unrepeatable-pattern material filling all the empty space in the security container, I have developed a new idea that involves lining an inflated balloon with unrepeatable patterns. A transparent balloon ought to be used, so that the lining patterns are visible from the outside when the balloon is inflated. The lining patterns can be formed in the same way as already mentioned for the creation of lining patterns for certain other situations, by creating multi-coloured vaseline (using paints mixed into vaseline), and then creating random patterns on the inside lining of the balloon before it gets inflated. To make the application of the multi-coloured vaseline easier, you might be able to turn the uninflated balloon inside out, apply the vaseline, and then turn it back to its normal form where it is no longer inside out. The item to be secured would need to be placed inside the balloon, probably before inflating—might need to stretch the balloon opening to get the item into the balloon. Once the balloon has been inflated, hopefully the multicoloured-vaseline patterns (the security patterns) would be formed on the inside lining of the balloon, and become photographable. The balloon would have to be sealed in such a manner that any possible air leakage would not unduly destroy the patterns during the time the item was secured. For such sealing, you could perhaps use some well-suited glue (maybe glue-gun glue ). With such a set-up, it probably would be very hard not to destroy unnoticeably the balloon-lining security patterns in the process of performing any tampering to the secured item (inside the inflated balloon). Trying to recreate deceptively the security patterns in the same set-up, would also likely be hard. Therefore, such a set-up perhaps would constitute quite an effective tamper-evident system. Instead of using multi-coloured vaseline, multi-coloured hot wax could perhaps be used, where the wax would be poured before inflating, and then the balloon would be quickly inflated shortly after such pouring; the wax would cool to form the security patterns on the inside lining of the inflated balloon. Alternatively, PVC glue mixed with different paint colours could be used to line the balloon; once the PVC glue dries on the inflated balloon, there would then hopefully be a coloured pattern lining, that upon deflation would be destroyed. Confetti balloons, or the mechanism behind such balloons, where the confetti is "activated" so that it sticks to the lining of the balloon, might also work; after inflating such balloons, it appears creating an electrostatic charge on the balloons by rubbing them on some wool (maybe also on your head might work), makes the confetti stick on the inside of the balloon; such patterns might be hard to replicate, and also easily destroyed through a small change in the volume of air in the balloon. Recent experiments have indicated certain types of torn-up plastic wrapping material (like from plastic bags), as well as hair, are capable of sticking&mdash;like the confetti of confetti balloons&mdash;to the inner balloon lining using electrostatic attraction, for several days, in fixed unchanging positions, regardless of the natural gravitational attractions that would otherwise move them. Figuring out the plastic materials amenable to such electrostatic "position fixing" might not be so simple, so am first going to experiment more with just human hair (could be cheap source of material... just cut your own hair?) Upon reflection, if applying multicoloured vaseline patterns to the inner lining of a transparent balloon, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason not to also fill the empty space in the balloon with other "conventional" unrepeatable-pattern material. Such would seem to increase generally the security deriving from unrepeatable patterns in the set-up. If doing such, it might be a good idea not to fill the balloon to the brim with such material, so that there is likely greater "fluidity" in the stuffing (in contrast to if it were ram-packed with the material), and so greater ease for security pattern destruction as part of the mechanism for detecting tampering. However, if not enough material is put in the balloon, then the patterns could be destroyed regardless of tampering, so need to make sure not too little material is added. Something not addressed thus far, is how to get the item to be secured, into the balloon. For small items, such as certain memory sticks, such items may fit through the 'blowing-up' nozzle relatively easily. But for larger items, it may not be possible to insert them into the balloon in the same way. One possible option perhaps is to slit the balloon open at the bulbous part of the balloon, insert the item to be secured into the balloon, and then glue the slit closed such that the balloon can then still be blown-up in the conventional way&mdash;such would be a bit like performing a surgical operation on the balloon. The kind of glue used would probably be important&mdash;perhaps glue-gun glue would work for this . Another thing to bear in mind, is that if the balloon is blown-up so that it is very close to its maximum capacity, this might provide greater tamper evidence due to it being very sensitive to bursting (such bursting perhaps perceived as causing 'mayhem' of sorts in terms of destroying the security patterns).  Instead of using inflated balloons, inflated bubble-gum bubbles could perhaps be used to improve security. Once such a bubble is burst, blowing-up a bubble with the same patterns as the burst bubble, is likely practically impossible. Not sure how such bubble-gum bubbles would actually be practically effected, as such bubbles would likely tend to be quite delicate&mdash;perhaps requires greater thought and research in order to make such a mechanism practically possible.  It seems that opaque balloons can sometimes be used, just by shining a strong torch light (such as maybe a smartphone torch light) through an inflated balloon in order to reveal the inner-lining security patterns. The patterns must be capable of being revealed in this way, and so the substance used for making the patterns, may need to be partially transparent. Also, the balloon not being empty, may undermine the security if it be the case that the torch light can't get sufficiently through the balloon. Being able to use "ordinary" opaque balloons that are likely more common, may be especially good for budgetary reasons. Could also be good for security, as the patterns aren't normally compromised to adversaries if they simply pass by&mdash;the patterns are not visible to casual passers-by, a strong torch light is required to make the patterns visible.
 * The unrepeatable-pattern material could be formed from multi-coloured iron filings in water. The transparent container would be wrapped completely with transparent magnets. The multicoloured iron filings would then be attracted to the panels of the container in a random way. Once the filings become settled into their ongoing fixed positions stuck to the outer walls of the container, photos of the outside of the container would then be able to be taken, such photos being of the security patterns visible from the outside of the container. To get to the container’s contents, hopefully the outside magnets would have to be moved, and that would hopefully noticeably destroy the security patterns. This security method is perhaps prone to the attack where both the iron filings are glued to the container to repeat a particular pattern, and the glue used ends-up dissolving in the water to leave no trace that glue was ever used. On another note, a water-cooling PC case that is transparent, might be able to be adapted such that it constitutes the basis of the security container of this security method.
 * Electrostatic or magnetic attraction could perhaps be used in conjunction with some suitably-fine material, such as perhaps hair in the way it is affected by electrostatic charges. But gluing the material, in such a way that the glue evaporates, might be capable of defeating such security. If the electrostatic or magnetic charges could be randomly distributed, and then somehow set-up to be lost upon opening the container, then maybe that would be able to overcome such attacks (since the specific charge distribution would perhaps then not be able to be reused or recreated for any hoax). Cling film might be material easily capable of having randomly-distributed electrostatic charges (the distribution may even be "naturally" created). You could, for example, instead of draping storage boxes with cloth, drape them with cling film having short cut strands of hair randomly positioned on the underside of the cling film (other underside materials that might also be used are the material formed by small pieces of plastic-bag material, dust, and talcum powder [perhaps multicoloured using paints or otherwise], when the material is capable of electrostatic attraction [in the case of dust and talcum powder, good security might also be possible without electrostatic attraction]). The hair material would hopefully stay in position due to the electrostatic charges in the cling film, and also hopefully be easily moved by slight physical disturbances such as those perhaps made by intruders. Adversaries wouldn't be able to spray a conventional kind of glue to keep the hairs in place, because the hairs would be on the underside of the cling film (where any spray cans or like dispensers should find it hard to reach). The physical shape of the cling film, perhaps slightly crumpled, maybe also slightly warped, would also lend to making it hard to deceptively recreate the same security patterns&mdash;the cling-film shape, in addition to the hair arrangement, would also make-up the security patterns. It might be that the randomly-distributed charge in the cling film is easily modified through slight physical disturbances; if this be the case, such property would make this method even more secure.
 * How about having a memory stick wrapped-in cellophane left in a transparent container of water, where moss or algae is allowed to grow all over it. Perhaps taking the stick out would invariably noticeably destroy the moss/algae patterns such that they could not unnoticeably be repaired. Reproducing the moss/algae patterns would perhaps be practically impossible because of the way the moss/algae grows. Perhaps the only problem would be how to freeze the moss/algae patterns such that they stopped changing. Could a microscope perhaps be used to make sure the patterns hadn’t undergone tampering?
 * Perhaps the container could be some kind of irregularly-shaped electrical capacitor storing charge. Some random action could somehow disturb the charge into an unrepeatable pattern. A “photograph” of the charge could then be taken as the security photo (maybe of the EM fields?) Opening the container invariably disrupts the charge and consequently also the security image. The random nature of the pattern perhaps means that it is hard to reproduce artificially. Cling film might be good for keeping a randomly-distributed electrical charge (it may even be naturally able to have such distribution). Such distribution might also be capable of being easily lost.
 * Can cracks in transparent glass be repaired such that it is unnoticeable that the cracks were ever there? If not, then maybe glass could be used somehow. Encasing in molten glass might be capable of providing a tamper-evident solution. Instead of glass, perhaps plastic could be used, such as perhaps acrylic plastic. Transparent acrylic can be bent by using standard heating equipment meant for such bending; such heating equipment appears likely to be inexpensive as well as easy to use ; according to https://plasticsheetsshop.co.uk/how-to-bend-perspex/, acrylic can be bent using a hairdryer, an adjustable paint burner or a convection oven (if you don't have the standard equipment) . It may be possible to use plastics other than acrylic, that are more readily available. For example, it might be possible to recycle the transparent or semi-transparent plastic found in old CD/DVD cases (am assuming that such plastic is not classed as acrylic) for this security mechanism. The Wikihow "How to Melt Plastic" article indicates that household plastic can sometimes be melted in a kitchen oven, with a heat gun, or with household nail polish remover (acetone). Bending acrylic completely around the item to be secured, both in the latitudinal and longitudinal directions, might work. Rather than using completely transparent acrylic plastic, if “fleck glitter” acrylic plastic were instead used, it would perhaps be then capable of providing unrepeatable patterns without requiring any extra work (if it were the case that the “fleck glitter” patterns were of a random nature in the acrylic). "Fleck glitter" acrylic plastic appears to be currently relatively expensive; instead, it would seem just painting the inner sides with glitter nail-varnish polish should work; brief research seems to indicate that unbending the plastic through heat would likely melt the "nail-varnish polish" patterns, and therefore this would seem to add to the tamper-evidence mechanism. But then how to prevent the bent plastic from being unbent, and then bent back again, in an unnoticeable way? Perhaps painting the bent acrylic with some material that noticeably changes when heated-up could overcome such an attack (glitter nail-varnish polish might work) . Then any heater used to unbend the material would destroy such patterns. Perhaps simply using a file on the bent acrylic would work. The filed acrylic would hopefully create a rough texture with a pattern hard to reproduce/imitate precisely, especially in combination with the “fleck glitter” patterns. Heating the acrylic would then hopefully melt the rough texture created using the file, and so destroy the security patterns formed through the filing. Either some types of thin acrylic, or all types of thin acrylic, appear likely to shatter; I've gathered this from the comments of others; such easy shattering could add to the tamper-evident mechanism.  This idea works along the hypothesised principle of it being difficult to conceal unnoticeably cracks and topological cuts in transparent glass/plastic. It is considered that this might not be true (for example) with glue-gun glue: it could be possible to cut a solid piece of glue-gun glue in two, and then bond them together (through slight melting of their ends) so that there is hardly any evidence that the piece was ever cut in two. This idea could mean that tamper-evident mechanisms that rely solely on glue-gun glue, might be able to be circumvented through such cutting and re-bonding. Adding a swirl of contrasting colours (perhaps using paint) to the glue-gun glue, as well as adding glitter (glue sticks are actually available that already have glitter in them) could improve things, but still, it might be that even with such measures, such tamper evident mechanisms would still be able to be circumvented in the just-mentioned way. One possible way to overcome such defects and weaknesses, is to mix wax in with the glue-gun glue (maybe multicoloured wax) so that the wax regions and the glue regions in the conglomerate, have boundaries escaping easy encapsulation. Such a mechanism would rely on the fact that wax has a lower melting point to the glue-gun glue. Adversaries trying to do any topological cutting and then re-bonding, would probably then have a rather tough time concealing such cuts because the melting and re-bonding process would be hard to control as a consequence of the wax becoming runny in the melting of the glue.
 * Rather than a rigid container that simply has a lid, a special container that falls apart completely when it is opened perhaps would improve security, because there would then likely be greater destruction of the security patterns. Something like a house of cards where if one of the cards at the bottom is taken out, the whole structure collapses. Or perhaps like a cardboard box that easily collapses to cardboard only existing in one plane, from a 3D box to a 2D cut-out for the box. Using hinges might be useful in the construction of such containers. Following this same idea of a container falling apart, some material that when it develops a crack, cracks all over the place such that the whole structure disintegrates to some extent, could also improve security along a similar vein—a bit like an egg shell but maybe more fragile. Certain kinds of extremely fragile glass perhaps have such properties.
 * Transparent hair gel might have been suitable, but then it might be possible, with very sophisticated equipment, to lift out a section of the gel, and then put it back-in, without any disturbance to the security patterns occurring.
 * In respect of inducing a greater destruction of security patterns during the retrieval of secured items, perhaps having the item to be secured placed in liquid, where a buoyant layer of solid bits is trapped beneath the secured item, and a sinking layer of solid bits is trapped above the secured item, could work. The natural tendency is for the sinking layer to go to the bottom, and the other layer to the top, but for the security device the layers are in some sense in the opposite places to “where they want to be”. When secured as such, there is a natural tension between the layer of bits “wanting” to go up, and the layer of bits “wanting” to go down. Removing the secured item perhaps invariably causes such disturbance that both layers get disturbed with the layer wanting to go down, to some extent (perhaps completely) going down, and the opposite with the other layer. The security patterns then would thereby be destroyed, hopefully more than with other methods, and perhaps even in a total way. Such a set-up would perhaps solve the recent problem I’ve been experiencing concerning the security patterns not being sufficiently destroyed. The theories behind the sedimentation of sea beds, and the use of centrifuges, seem applicable here.
 * If it is possible to surround items to be secured with long-lasting bubbles that keep their positions, then that could perhaps be a very secure unrepeatable-patterns tamper-evident mechanism. Getting to the secured item would invariably destroy or at least alter the configuration of the bubbles. Bubbles with long lifetimes seem possible (see http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/soapbubbles.html). Instead of bubbles, a kind of honeycomb-like architecture formed by the soapy material of bubbles, within the cavity between a secured item and the outer casing of a transparent rigid plastic box, might may also work.
 * A plastic box containing some fragrance that is lost just a few seconds after opening the box, could perhaps provide security. To overcome the potential attack of an adversary deceptively putting the same fragrance back into the box, a very unique fragrance could perhaps be used. Such a mechanism would probably thwart the attack where there is the inducement of a different "air" composition in the opening of the box through the use of laboratory conditions, contrived so as to try to circumvent the security mechanism. For example, such attacks perhaps would work where colour-changing chemicals form part of the security mechanism, and where colour changing doesn't occur when the box contents is exposed to pure nitrogen (instead of air). The problem with using a unique fragrance is how to make it such that an adversary is unable to duplicate it. Anyway, this idea exploits the nature of gasses, and that once a container of gas is opened even for a very short amount of time, it's likely very difficult to prevent at least a bit of it escaping. This general security idea of using gases in such ways, appears to be important, and perhaps can be adapted for a variety of security mechanisms.
 * Another potential way to use balloon or similar stretchable material, is to stretch the rubber-like material so that it is stretched under tension completely around an item to be secured, with cut short strands of human hair randomly placed underneath the material to cover the entire surface of the item with visibility of the hairs on the other side of the stretched material, and so that the material is closed (perhaps tied) so that it persists in a stretched and unchanging state around the item to be secured. It's a bit like putting the item to be secured in stretched tights (perhaps). The hair placements, visible even though underneath the stretched stretchable material, would constitute the security patterns. Short strands of hair perhaps constitutes good unrepeatable-pattern material because of its nature of being easily changed by slight things in combination with also having some persistence in respect of its positioning. Because the stretchable material is stretched around the item to be secured, trying to get to the secured item would likely inevitably make part of the material un-stretch and such un-stretching would likely disturb the security patterns. Trying to recreate the same patterns would likely be extremely difficult because of the conflicting forces between the unstretchable yet flexible hair and the stretchable material (such conflicts existing particularly whilst the stretchable material is being stretched to completely go around the item to be secured). Also, repairing cuts and tears in the stretched material, made by adversaries in order to get to the secured item, would likely be hard to conceal, and also of itself, might cause significant security-pattern disturbance (and so increase the level of tamper evidence).

Misc. notes

 * External link to research on home-made tamper-evident security seals for kids and adults alike