3 ms·
More common associated risk: Police detain you and point your phone at your face to unlock it (or unlock your access to some other resource). That is not a ver
by schoen 5y ago
More common associated risk: Police detain you and point your phone at your face to unlock it (or unlock your access to some other resource).
That is not a very high-tech or high-effort attack and could be relevant if you're concerned about the police.
Someone might say that this concern is useless because the police can also coerce you to unlock your phone via a different method, but that depends on the law and culture in your particular environment (I guess ranging from "extremely unlikely" to "almost certain" depending on where you are).
Edit: I don't mean to disagree with your overall point that understanding the threat landscape and threat model is very important, just to say that there is a very simple and plausible threat to which the precaution you used as an example can be relevant.
- InitialBP 5y agoDefinitely a good threat I hadn't considered. I imagine from someone who is less educated about technology in general, having a list of "example threats" that those items might protect against would be beneficial to help offer some more incentive to follow this list other than just "Good Security".
- astockwell 5y agoIf you press and hold both the lock button + the volume up button long enough to open the power-off screen, it will disable faceID (on iPhone) until you enter your passcode again. Handy to know and easy enough to do discreetly in a pinch.
- kingcharles 5y agoI know I've posted this a lot of times, so I'm sounding like a broken record, but you won't get a chance to do it. When the government came for me they pointed a loaded gun at my head. There was no way I could have moved my hands to start fannying around with my phone. I refused to cooperate when they threatened me, but they soon realized a new tactic and threatened my wife. You're probably tougher than you think. You might be able to take a spanner to your knee caps, but if the government puts a gun to your spouse or children (or even your dog), what are you going to do then? Certainly in the USA at least, I don't think the police are committing any misconduct by telling you they are going to take your wife outside and shoot her in the face if you don't give up your fifth amendment privilege.
- kdtsh 5y agoPressing the power button five times in quick succession does the same - another handy trick.
- zrail 5y agoOn my phone pressing the power button five times quickly starts a 10 second timer and then it auto-calls emergency services and I'm pretty sure this is the default.
- tomekf 5y agoI always feel that this should be promoted more. Simple but effective in sticky situations…
- suchire 5y agoClicking the side button five times will do the same
- pkingobject 5y agoI agree, it very much depends on who is targeting you. If it's the police on the street or at your home, say in russia or another third world country, then they can just lock you up or go as far as torture to get access. If they want to access your phone they will. But someone random on the internet trying to get your google photos? Completely different.