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

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

245 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.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 4 months ago (2 children)

You can enable lockdown mode. It forces the next unlock to ignore biometrics and require a pin, which police cannot force you to divulge without a warrant. Once enabled, you get a "lockdown mode" option in the menu when you hold down your power button.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If you haven't done this and need the same ability IMMEDIATELY: reboot, or just shut down

Every first boot requires pin same as lockdown

Also: set a nonstandard finger in a weird way as your finger unlock if you wanna use that, then theyre likely to fail to get that to work should you not manage to lock it down beforehand

Finally: there are apps that let you use alternate codes/finger unlocks to wipe/encrypt/reboot the device instead, allowing you to pretend to cooperate with the cops up until they realize they got played

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (3 children)

IANAL, but I'd be very careful about wiping the phone like that. Sounds a lot like destruction of evidence...

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Gotta prove there was evidence on the phone in the first place, which would take forensic work to do and be not worth the work in the majority of cases

Plus it would annoy them, and that's the real goal here

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I imagine that would be one hell of a story to tell Bubba when they decide to lock you away for whatever false charges they can pin on you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

When the cops are about to fuck you like this... Defending yourself is the priority lol wtf clown take is this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

sounds like the point

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Also: set a nonstandard finger in a weird way as your finger unlock if you wanna use that

I actually do this. 3 wrong attempts and the phone requires a password.

I consider it a very light measure and not something to rely on alone, but it's a bit of a no-brainer for how easy and unobtrusive this is.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

Although lockdown mode is a good step and helps defend against biometric warrents, it does not wipe the encryption keys from RAM. This can only be achieved by using a secondary (non-default) user profile on GrapheneOS, and triggering the End session feature. This fully removes the cryptographic secrets from memory, and requires the PIN or password to unlock, which is enforced through the StrongBox and Weaver API of the Titan M2 secure element in Pixel devices.