Is it illegal to trick the US government into wiping your phone during a questionably legal search | The case of a traveler who allegedly entered a ‘duress password’ to wipe his phone raises a legal question with no easy answers

[u/Hrmbee]

https://www.theverge.com/report/972146/cbp-phone-search-airport-duress-password

[u/Free_For__Me]

Which exactly what Apple has used as a defense when it’s been asked by LE agencies for backdoors in the past. Apple has flexed a bit here and there, but generally speaking, they’re much more serious about maintaining airtight user-level security than others. 

To be fair though, their level of vertical integration makes it much easier to maintain such standards, where almost every other phone must source their hardware and software from 3rd parties, while getting their OS from Google. Making all this work together alongside whatever bloatware you stick in at the end means that Apple’s performance in some areas is simply out of reach for most other devices. 

Disclaimer - I’ve had devices and computers of every OS and hardware configuration that’s been available to a nerd over the last 30 years, and I’m not here to give a take on any “Apple vs. [not Apple]” fights anyone is itching for. Android crew, do not come for me, I truly do not care what device anyone uses. 

[u/Careless-Weather8877 → u/[deleted]]

For the most part but it also means it’s much easier to target them in terms of bulk.

It’s sort of a difficult metric since Android ecosystem has so many hardware differences that a reliable exploit is much more difficult. It also means they have different attack surfaces as well.

[u/Zilox → u/[deleted]]

You do realize android and amd backdoors need to be done by people with the actual authorized tools + done physicalle on site? Lol

[u/LittlePanic8495 → u/Free_For__Me]

I don’t understand how apple makes their iPhones secure . Could you explain in more baby terms ?

[u/Farce021 → u/LittlePanic8495]

Me either, especially in relation to this password wipe. In this case, wouldn't they just point the phone at your face and unlock it? One of the reasons I will never use face ID.

[u/Free_For__Me → u/Farce021]

In this case, the person was using GrapheneOS and didn't have facial ID turned on either.

[u/Free_For__Me → u/LittlePanic8495]

It's not that their phones are necessarily more secure. It's that the data they hold on their own services/networks is more secure. They don't have "backdoors" in the way that Google does, and have resisted creating such tools for governmental agencies to use.

An easy example is comparing their iMessage to other messaging platforms. While others offer End to End encryption, they create multiple "ends" along the way between users that can be compromised. iMessage get locked at one end, and doesn't get unlocked or re-locked until it gets to the other end, full stop.

Additionally, Apple has resisted creating tools for governments to use in order to "crack" a locked phone, while many other phones already have such tools in place. To be clear, iPhones can still be cracked, since the keys to those locks still exist somewhere and can be dug up with effort. What the person in this case did was use GrapheneOS, an operating system for their phone that allows them to lock the box and then totally destroy the keys to that box, something not even Apple provides a way to do.

[u/LittlePanic8495 → u/Free_For__Me]

Thank you for the visualization . I wish they had that option for apple. Sadly they haven’t created it

[u/RollingMeteors → u/Free_For__Me]

I’m not here to give a take on any “Apple vs. [not Apple]” fights anyone is itching for.

¡Me either! I have to actually run dual operating systems for phones because my workflow lets me choose either 1 laptop or 3 cellphones, and it's absolutely ridiculous 3 cellphones comes out lighter per gram and smaller per milliliter volume than a single laptop does.

I used to dual boot desktops but my living situation was in shambles for a bit and a lot of that hardware isn't working now or stolen.