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When I had to repair my phone, they asked me to write down the code; I refused, and said I'll wait there and unlock it when they need. Modern iPhones (and I wou

When I had to repair my phone, they asked me to write down the code; I refused, and said I'll wait there and unlock it when they need. Modern iPhones (and I would guess that's also true of Androids) apparently can be accessed by law enforcement - but AFAIK that involves disabling the lock-up counters and some form of brute-forcing, which takes time. 99% of the people just give the phone password to the tech. If I was a foreign intelligence service, I'd set up attractive repair shops around army bases and government offices (quick turn around, competent service, reasonable prices) and just mirror every phone that comes through. Most of it will be useless, but I'm sure that one can occasionally find some gold (in the form of documents or compromising material).

flavius29663 5y ago
And you don't even need to find compromising materials. You can find passwords and other credentials that later on you can use to get access to some service, and then jump higher from there.
avs733 5y ago
> I'd set up attractive repair shops around army bases and government offices (quick turn around, competent service, reasonable prices) and just mirror every phone that comes through. Most of it will be useless, but I'm sure that one can occasionally find some gold (in the form of documents or compromising material). 1) I would be surprised if that isn't already happening. 2) NOTHING is useless in intelligence work like that. It doesn't have to be directly and immediately useful, but you can learn an enormous amount through so called patterns or life analysis. 3) Information leakage via devices like this is an enormous problem. C.f., leaking the location of military bases through Strava logging or nuclear weapons storage information via flash card study apps
LorenPechtel 5y ago
Yeah. The times I've needed to have a phone serviced I simply was available to unlock when needed. So long as the service time is reasonably short it's the simplest approach.

flavius29663 5y ago

And you don't even need to find compromising materials. You can find passwords and other credentials that later on you can use to get access to some service, and then jump higher from there.

avs733 5y ago

> I'd set up attractive repair shops around army bases and government offices (quick turn around, competent service, reasonable prices) and just mirror every phone that comes through. Most of it will be useless, but I'm sure that one can occasionally find some gold (in the form of documents or compromising material). 1) I would be surprised if that isn't already happening. 2) NOTHING is useless in intelligence work like that. It doesn't have to be directly and immediately useful, but you can learn an enormous amount through so called patterns or life analysis. 3) Information leakage via devices like this is an enormous problem. C.f., leaking the location of military bases through Strava logging or nuclear weapons storage information via flash card study apps

LorenPechtel 5y ago

Yeah. The times I've needed to have a phone serviced I simply was available to unlock when needed. So long as the service time is reasonably short it's the simplest approach.