5 ms·

What if you don't hand over the password?

hollander 10y ago
You apparently lose your phone, and you can be sure they will copy any content on it, even if it's decrypted. If you enter, change your PIN to something alphanumeric, especially when you're on Android. Just a number is easy to beat, even if it's 10 digits long. I think the latest iphones are safe enough. I don't know about Windows Phone, but don't think it's safer than Android.
- leereeves 10y ago
  > I think the latest iphones are safe enough. Not sure about that. After Apple refused to help, the FBI claims to have hacked that iPhone anyway, with a tool developed outside the government. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/27/fbi-apple-iphone-secret-hack-san-bernardino https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/27/fbi-apple...
  - tomasf 10y ago
    Yeah, but that's an iPhone 5C, which is three generations old.
  - laingc 10y ago
    It was an iPhone 5c. No Secure Enclave.
  - yardie 10y ago
    BTW, what was the result of that? They paid hackers a ton of money to unlock old firmware, iOS 8.0, on an old phone, 5C.
  - perryprog 10y ago
    This was also a phone from a terrorist.
    - steffan 10y ago
      > This was also a phone from a terrorist. I think the downvoted parent is relevant in that they mightn't make the effort for a 'normal' person.
- morganvachon 10y ago
  > I don't know about Windows Phone, but don't think it's safer than Android. Windows Phone user here. I know for a fact the SD card you put in your phone is encrypted and can only be decrypted in the phone itself[1]. I don't know for sure about the internal storage; it's supposed to be encrypted if you use a screen lock on your device but I have no easy way to test that. Regardless, if they can force you to reveal your pin/password you're hosed anyway. [1] "Can't be decrypted" assumes, of course, that the government wanting to decrypt it doesn't have an agreement with Microsoft to hand over the private key or otherwise provide access. My understanding is that Microsoft's position lately has been "no warrant, no access" but that could just be lip service. In either case, Windows Phone is a dying platform and anyone security conscious enough to worry about border crossings would hopefully have something more inherently secure anyway.
  - my123 10y ago
    Windows Phones use the Secure part of the Secure Digital(SD) standard. Very few other platforms use it.
    - morganvachon 10y ago
      That's my understanding, yes. And I've had to deal with it first hand when I forgot I had used a certain SD card in a Windows phone and then tried to access its data in another device. I had to pull that old phone out of storage to access, then wipe and unlock the card. It's a great feature that I wish other phone manufacturers would adopt.
  - Schlaefer 10y ago
    Windows Phone/Mobile user here. SD card content is not encrypted. Encryption for SD cards is coming in the Windows 10 Creators Update and just dropped in the dev builds[1]. [1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/01/12/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-15007-pc-mobile/ https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/01/12/annou...
    - morganvachon 10y ago
- moonfern 10y ago
  There's a device for unlocking I-phones. I saw it in action a few times at work: The I-phone is placed horizontally into a cradle, 40 cm above the screen there's some kind of a device. That device produces flash flights, a couple times per second and I suspect it takes pictures. If I remember correctly there's nothing touching the buttons. The officer said that it can crack I-phone 6 (7 was not out when I asked it). What I suspect is that it uses brute force and avoids the delaying system. Since I work in a low tech environment, I was surprised to see that thing in action.

You apparently lose your phone, and you can be sure they will copy any content on it, even if it's decrypted. If you enter, change your PIN to something alphanumeric, especially when you're on Android. Just a number is easy to beat, even if it's 10 digits long. I think the latest iphones are safe enough. I don't know about Windows Phone, but don't think it's safer than Android.

leereeves 10y ago
> I think the latest iphones are safe enough. Not sure about that. After Apple refused to help, the FBI claims to have hacked that iPhone anyway, with a tool developed outside the government. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/27/fbi-apple-iphone-secret-hack-san-bernardino https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/27/fbi-apple...
- tomasf 10y ago
  Yeah, but that's an iPhone 5C, which is three generations old.
- laingc 10y ago
  It was an iPhone 5c. No Secure Enclave.
- yardie 10y ago
  BTW, what was the result of that? They paid hackers a ton of money to unlock old firmware, iOS 8.0, on an old phone, 5C.
- perryprog 10y ago
  This was also a phone from a terrorist.
  - steffan 10y ago
    > This was also a phone from a terrorist. I think the downvoted parent is relevant in that they mightn't make the effort for a 'normal' person.
morganvachon 10y ago
> I don't know about Windows Phone, but don't think it's safer than Android. Windows Phone user here. I know for a fact the SD card you put in your phone is encrypted and can only be decrypted in the phone itself[1]. I don't know for sure about the internal storage; it's supposed to be encrypted if you use a screen lock on your device but I have no easy way to test that. Regardless, if they can force you to reveal your pin/password you're hosed anyway. [1] "Can't be decrypted" assumes, of course, that the government wanting to decrypt it doesn't have an agreement with Microsoft to hand over the private key or otherwise provide access. My understanding is that Microsoft's position lately has been "no warrant, no access" but that could just be lip service. In either case, Windows Phone is a dying platform and anyone security conscious enough to worry about border crossings would hopefully have something more inherently secure anyway.
- my123 10y ago
  Windows Phones use the Secure part of the Secure Digital(SD) standard. Very few other platforms use it.
  - morganvachon 10y ago
    That's my understanding, yes. And I've had to deal with it first hand when I forgot I had used a certain SD card in a Windows phone and then tried to access its data in another device. I had to pull that old phone out of storage to access, then wipe and unlock the card. It's a great feature that I wish other phone manufacturers would adopt.
- Schlaefer 10y ago
  Windows Phone/Mobile user here. SD card content is not encrypted. Encryption for SD cards is coming in the Windows 10 Creators Update and just dropped in the dev builds[1]. [1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/01/12/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-15007-pc-mobile/ https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/01/12/annou...
  - morganvachon 10y ago
moonfern 10y ago
There's a device for unlocking I-phones. I saw it in action a few times at work: The I-phone is placed horizontally into a cradle, 40 cm above the screen there's some kind of a device. That device produces flash flights, a couple times per second and I suspect it takes pictures. If I remember correctly there's nothing touching the buttons. The officer said that it can crack I-phone 6 (7 was not out when I asked it). What I suspect is that it uses brute force and avoids the delaying system. Since I work in a low tech environment, I was surprised to see that thing in action.