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In the February 2017 case of a California artist who was questioned at San Francisco International Airport upon re-entry, after he finally agreed to unlock his
by ianferrel 9y ago
In the February 2017 case of a California artist who was questioned at San Francisco International Airport upon re-entry, after he finally agreed to unlock his iPhone, it was taken out of his sight for several minutes and could have been imaged without his knowledge. Under iOS 11, unless the artist, Aaron Gach, decided to actually give up the passcode (rather than type it in himself), he could at least have been reasonably confident that the phone could not be imaged without his knowledge.
So, doesn't this just mean that border agents will force you to write down your password, key it in themselves to verify that it works, then walk away with the phone to image it?
- EGreg 9y agoRubber Hose Cryptanalysis? Can't wait for iOS to have the deniability factor of having different passwords unlock different things :) For the sensitive stuff, have periods of time that require several computers to solve cryptographic challenges in order to unlock the phone. Some of which may be your friends' devices. If they don't hear from you and your intended hosts in a certain amount of time, phone stays locked. Or one of the devices can be an NFC or Wifi hotspot in a certain area, and one at home. If you don't reach it, phone stays locked.
- DanBC 9y agoThat's the worst case for rubber hose. Even if you give up all your passwords they can still keep beating you to get the "real" pass.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- DigitalJack 9y agoThey should have an "erase everything" password.
- dogma1138 9y agoIf you are under the threat of violence that won't save you.
- theWatcher37 9y agoBut maybe death is preferable to living with your anime collection out there.
- jack1243star 9y agoI'm calling Poe's law here. I hope you do not serious mean that anime collections are shameful.
- r00fus 9y agos/anime/youknow/ aka Rule34.
- djKianoosh 9y agobetter yet, a pass code option to show a bare user account without access to the real user data
- KGIII 9y agoIf you are realistically in a situation where that would happen, and you would be harmed, they may just decide to kill you as you're no longer of any value. In this case, a blank phone probably means no entry and not actually harming you. So, there's that, I guess.
- EGreg 9y agoWhy can't they do that ANYWAY?
- dogma1138 9y agoSo you are afraid of actors that would torture you to get access to the data. And your "solution" is to share this experience with your friends by tying their devices to yours and setting up a device in such a manner that that actor would not be able to verify if they indeed have access to the real data stored on it. This is a recipe for a one way ticket to a very dark place for you and your friends. For the most part the number one rule of actual data safety is that never implement protection that would put your well being or the well being of others at risk, unless you are protecting the nuclear launch codes no data is worth being physically harmed for.
- Swizec 9y ago> unless you are protecting the nuclear launch codes no data is worth being physically harmed for. What if you’re just protecting the location of your daughter/sister from her physically abusive ex? Not worth enduring some violence for?
- dogma1138 9y agoIn that case they would come to break your face to begin with not your 256bit encryption.
- cat199 9y agoSo, since the vendor will undoubtedly inject themselves into this complex situation for 'usability', you are basically arguing for devices that are never actually controlled by their user because terrorism. Good 9/11 argument there.
- EGreg 9y agoWhat are you TALKING about? The user controls their device to the exact same extent now. You have to trust the apps and OS you use. And iOS isn't exactly open source either. I am saying the user can choose to select beacons to unlock their phone during a trip somewhere. The user CHOOSES to lock their phone in a way that requires things additional to the password, things that represent having made it safely past the security lol.
- pavement 9y agoThis is a rare case where multi-factor authentication, and the option to involve biometrics as hardened sub-layer auth, would be nice. To be adequately effective, though, all back-up activities would require the full authentication credentials for all verification factors, which might only be possible with, say, a fingerprint scanner (touchbar) equipped laptop, or additional external hardware peripherals for other types of systems.
- bad_user 9y ago"Multi-factor authentication" doesn't make sense unless you're communicating with a server over the network. Biometrics can be copied and faked. Ultimately it's security theater. Nothing beats a strong password.
- mahyarm 9y agoIt does. But if your a US citizen or are ok to be barred from entering the US for a long time, then you have the option to not unlock. If you go the US citizen route, be prepared to never get your phone back and many future border crossings to be 4+hr affairs where they confiscate most of your things. As a US citizen they have to let you in.
- AckSyn 9y agoI've done this before. It was a 2 hour ordeal but they simply have no right, and I was let in to go home with all of my belongings.
- dannyw 9y agoIf you do have money and effort to spare though, perhaps you can file a suit that gets up to the Supreme Court after enough of those 4hr border crossings.
- r00fus 9y agoMy guess is that those with money and effort to spare will not be required to endure this ritual (they know who they're dealing with).
- grecy 9y ago> As a US citizen they have to let you in True, and of course they can arrest you the instant they let you in.
- comex 9y agoYes, but an arrest requires evidence that you actually committed a crime, whereas border searches require no particular standard and are conducted relatively indiscriminately. Refusing to unlock your device is not a crime in itself. (However, lying to a federal agent is a crime, so it's important for anyone attempting this strategy to be forthright about their refusal, rather than trying to trick the border agent with fake data or whatnot.)
- thephyber 9y agoAs mentioned elsewhere, Apple can't prevent "rubber hose decryption" (where someone compels/coerces/tortures you to get access to an unlocked phone). I suspect this feature wasn't designed to prevent that threat. My guess is this somehow foils or mitigates the workaround that the Israeli company sold to the FBI after the San Bernadino phone issue.
- clamprecht 9y agoThey could add a "duress passcode", with an alternate reality of data. I don't expect them to, but it's possible. Bitcoin hardware wallets have this kind of feature to help avoid wrench attacks.
- eridius 9y agoLying to a federal agent is a crime. Edit: No seriously. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_false_statements. Refusing to unlock your device is one thing. Claiming that you did unlock it but in fact just used a "duress passcode" is a lie and can land you in jail.
- romanovcode 9y agoYeah, this XKCD never been so true as it is now. https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/