Magent Forensics, the owner of the GrayKey phone unlocking tool, says it can bypass an iPhone rebooting feature that was locking cops out.

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.

Archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/DuJxb

  • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    In the US, if cops get into a phone before a warrant, even if a warrant is issued later, all evidence from the phone is suppressed as illegally obtained.

    This is a bigger concern with respect to intelligence agencies who conduct mass surveillance.

    • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      even if a warrant is issued later, all evidence from the phone is suppressed as illegally obtained.

      This assumes a healthy and functioning country. I wouldn’t assume that of the US in particular. People are being hunted, kidnapped, imprisoned and murdered by the government as we speak.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 days ago

        I’m a law student in the US, so I’m actually privy to this information in the form of all the talks that they have judges and lawyers giving.

        You may not assume that the US judiciary is healthy and functioning, but it is not as broken as most international observers (or chronically online Americans) think it is. In particular, if you have been observing the Department for Justice’s results recently, you’ll notice a few things:

        1. Because the Department has been hiring for loyalty and not legal skill, the Department has lost most of its prior prestige. Previously, clerking for the Department was a competitive law school position. Now, the top legal minds then to avoid it. As a result, the quality of legal skill at the Department has decreased, drastically.
        2. Judges in the federal judiciary, with the exception of some notable Trump cronies, is actually very willing to uphold existing procedural law and rule against the government. It happens extremely regularly.
        3. When judicial orders are ignored, it is almost always temporary and not in any lasting way. Federal judges still do threaten and issue contempt of court penalties and disciplinary referrals to officials who blatantly disobey court orders.

        So in short, you are partially correct and partially wrong. The judiciary of the US has shown to be remarkably resilient considering it has withstood two years of a fascist in power and in full control of the legislature.

        • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 days ago

          First of all, you’re doing important work and I wish you well in your studies and career, for everyone’s sake.

          Thanks for the insight. Definitely some positives there. When ICE have added an innocent person’s data to be absorbed into (eg) Palantir’s database, how confident can we be that it is actually removed again?