A company that makes phone hacking devices claims to have developed a solution that freezes iPhones in a state that lets cops more easily access sensitive data inside them, according to a video obtained by 404 Media.
This is the latest salvo in the never-ending battle between Apple and companies that help cops — sometimes those in authoritarian countries — break into iPhones.
In November 2024, 404 Media revealed Apple quietly introduced a new feature in iOS that automatically reboots an iPhone that has not been unlocked for 72 hours. The idea behind this so-called “inactivity reboot” is to revert the phone to a state that makes it harder for police to break into the device, and thus extract sensitive data from it with forensics technology.
At the time of Apple’s change, law enforcement agents expressed concern about this new feature, given that oftentimes they can’t immediately try to break into iPhones that have been seized. That could be because police are still waiting for a court authorization to do so, or there is simply a backlog of devices to unlock, for example.
You can disable. You can also two factor it e.g. fingerprint and pin, with also a long password for BFU.
The fingerprint is the way in they are using. Bio entries are owned by the police if arrested. Finger/face/eye. Passwords/passcodes are not.
(Basically they own your body, not your mind without a warrant)
In GrapheneOS you can set it so it requires both a password and a fingerprint
Let me clarify: when I meant two factor, I mean both. You need both the print AND the pin to unlock. So its more convenient than a full passphrase (for first unlock) but still requires knowledge not just biometrics.
Genuine question here. I don’t really get the idea of using print and then a pin. If I want more security, then I use the pin alone, if I want more convenience, then I use a print. Can someone please give me an example in which using both actually makes sense? I honestly don’t see how using both would benefit security, it certainly does not benefit convenience.
I can see the use of 2 factor with a PIN and then a hardware key like a yubikey, or a pin and then a password, that does make sense to me, focused on security alone and doing away with convenience.
The benefit is if your PIN was compromised your phone would still be inaccessible, barring them having you physically. It’s another layer of defense. Similar to a yubikey, if someone had your phone but not the extra hardware. Although I think using a yubikey every time I wanted to use my phone would be prohibitively inconvenient.
Also, I don’t think PIN and password would be considered 2 Factor. That’s essentially just a longer password.
Lockdown mode disables biometrics while still leaving your device on, say if you know you’re going to talk to the police and don’t want to be forced to provide biometrics to unlock the device. And you can setup an automatic reboot after a set time period where it would return to a BFU state automatically.
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They are not supposed to own my body except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
/hj
Fingerprint and face is allowed under most states
Yeah, I was making a 13th Amendment ‘joke’, since you said “own”