Technology

59589 readers

2910 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

986

Apple Quietly Introduced iPhone Reboot Code Which is Locking Out Cops (www.404media.co)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

264 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which improves the security of iPhones overall and is making it harder for police to break into the devices, according to multiple iPhone security experts.

On Thursday, 404 Media reported that law enforcement officials were freaking out that iPhones which had been stored for examination were mysteriously rebooting themselves. At the time the cause was unclear, with the officials only able to speculate why they were being locked out of the devices. Now a day later, the potential reason why is coming into view.

“Apple indeed added a feature called ‘inactivity reboot’ in iOS 18.1.,” Dr.-Ing. Jiska Classen, a research group leader at the Hasso Plattner Institute, tweeted after 404 Media published on Thursday along with screenshots that they presented as the relevant pieces of code.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 43 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Lawyer. Not true.

Example: An officer pulls someone over and suspects them of something arrestable. Then says "Do you want me to get your personal belongings from your car?"

Any person agreeing to this allows them to hold your phone as evidence indefinitely in the US now.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

That's all lawful.

They can search you and the area when arrested. They can search the car if they have probable cause that evidence will be in the vehicle

I said have a warrant or seized lawfully, not nust have a warrant.

Edit: I didn't even write what I said I said correctly. Corrected it lol.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Seized or not, they can not force you to unlock your phone via pin without a warrant. They can only force you to use biometrics.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Right, but this is about them bypassing you entirely.

They don't need your fingerprint or pass code if they can bypass it themselves. This feature protects you when they've seized it lawfully which can be for many reasons.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or even if they've seized it unlawfully. Or if it's been stolen by a regular thief, a cybercriminal, the mafia, or a cartel.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not sure how much it would actually help for a regular thief.

This is about protecting it against more sophisticated attacks. But the rest probably have those means if wanted.

[–] umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It is their job to find evidences, not my resposibility to provide them.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I've never said otherwise.

It's their job to find a way to hack into the phone.

This feature makes that even harder.

load more comments (3 replies)