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FBI Gains Access to Suspected Trump Shooter’s Password Locked Phone
- chatmasta 2y agoThe article doesn’t say much. The device brand and model has not been disclosed.
- bell-cot 2y agoIf true (and lying in this case would be high-risk), then there probably isn't much of interest on the phone. Otherwise, they'd be busy with leads from the phone. Not telling Mr. Perp's shady associates to expect a knock on the door soon.
- quantified 2y agoWhy can't they also be busy with leads and just tight-lipped?
- bell-cot 2y agoIn this particular case, there may be a burning-hot political need for the FBI to be publicly perceived as making very fast progress.
- jki275 2y agoI think it's extremely likely there are no leads and there is nothing to actually investigate beyond a radicalized young adult who did something terrible.
- bell-cot 2y agoLikely true. But a "lone kidiot" narrative would be near-useless for meeting a whole lot of burning psychological, political, institutional, and financial needs. And emotionally-charged belief in counterfactuals is "normal" behavior in modern America.
- sandworm101 2y agoMaybe there are no leads. The guy is dead. This could easily have been a true loan wolf situation. Not every killer has a convenient manifesto documenting their motivations. Some just kill people and we will never know their internal minds on the matter.
- bangaladore 2y agoThis is a massive deal if a big company like Apple or Samsung produced the Phone. Modern "secure enclaves" found in nearly every phone and computer should be impossible to brute-force or leak secrets. Unless, of course, the phone allowed fingerprint / face-id and the corpse was used. I believe on Android, you still have to use a PIN with every restart. Presumably, Apple is the same. Unsure if time since last unlock is also a factor.
- laidoffamazon 2y agoIt's not implausible that the parents of the deceased simply knew and provided the password.
- bangaladore 2y agoI agree, in my opinion in order of likelihood: 1. Face-id / touch-id was still available to be used 2. Old phone without modern security measures (can brute force offline) 3. Someone else knew the pin/passphrase ... ∞. They bypassed a modern/certified secure enclave
- jmkni 2y agoThey could have had him added as a 'child' in the family settings > If you have an iPhone, iPad or Apple Vision Pro with the latest version of iOS, iPadOS or visionOS and two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID, you can change the Apple ID password for a child account in your Family Sharing group. > Tap Settings > Family > your child's account. > Tap Apple ID & Password. > Tap Change [Child’s Name] Password. > Enter your device passcode and follow the onscreen instructions. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/101567 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/101567
- Someone 2y agoThat there even is a working phone shows the shooter either didn’t worry about the feds finding out what’s on that phone, or didn’t think things through well. Given that, there’s a decent chance the phone’s password is 1234 or some day of the year that’s relevant for the phone owner.
- Jtsummers 2y agohttps://web.archive.org/web/20240715193420/https://www.404media.co/fbi-gains-access-to-suspected-trump-shooters-password-locked-phone/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240715193420/https://www.404me...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- andrewla 2y agoFBI statement without blogspam is at [1] [1] https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/update-on-the-fbi-investigation-of-the-attempted-assassination-of-former-president-donald-trump https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/update-on-the-fbi-in...
- sillysaurusx 2y ago> Since then, a company called Grayshift launched the GrayKey, a small device that was capable to breaking into modern iPhones. Those devices proliferated across the country, to federal, state, and local law enforcement, and are now a mainstay in forensic investigations. Anyone know about GrayKey? Curious how it works. Their website (https://www.magnetforensics.com/products/magnet-graykey/ https://www.magnetforensics.com/products/magnet-graykey/) claims “ Magnet Graykey can provide same-day access to the latest iOS and Android devices – often in under one hour.”
- Gabriel_Martin 2y agochange some config files to prevent attempt limit lockout then brute force?
- sodality2 2y agoModern iOS devices have a hell of a lot more than a simple config file (see: secure enclave)
- TheNewsIsHere 2y agoYep! To add, Apple details this in their security whitepaper. It used to be, years ago, that the limit was a purely software function. For many years this limit has been enforced in firmware/hardware. The paths between memory, storage, and CPU are now protected by the Secure Enclave hardware which is responsible for enforcing passcode entry attempt limits. These limits can only be configured after a mandatory passcode prompt (or via MDM). It is certainly possible that certain elements of the U.S. government have developed more advanced exploits beyond what GreyKey could have done, that they aren’t going to publicize.
- jki275 2y agoIt works on certain models and certain OS release levels that have known exploits. That's all it is.
- bangaladore 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gnfargbl 2y agoWithout further information there are really no useful security conclusions to be drawn. The technical experts in question may have an advanced lock screen bypass, or they may have tried entering his birthday as the passcode.
- lukas099 2y agoYeah, highly doubt they'd leak info about some exploit in a high-vis press release like this.
- gnfargbl 2y agoThey haven't leaked anything even if they do have a capability, because we can't know what they did. From a Bayesian point of view the information we gained here does nothing to help us distinguish between potential alternatives like "FBI has a zero day", "vendor has a secret backdoor" and "turns out you can face unlock a phone using a corpse".
- lukas099 2y agoYep, sorry if my comment was confusing but I agree with you.
- typeofhuman 2y agoDon't they have his body? Couldn't they replicate or use his actual fingerprint/face/eyes?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ChrisArchitect 2y agotl;dr The FBI made a note that they accessed the phone, posted by NYT etc, https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/update-on-the-fbi-investigation-of-the-attempted-assassination-of-former-president-donald-trump https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/update-on-the-fbi-in... , there isn't any other information.
- webninja 2y agoIsn’t the basic attack method: A) make a copy of the memory and hard drive (encrypted with a pin). B) try a few pins until you’re locked out. C) revert back to the copy you made in step A. D) Try a few pins until you’re locked out. E) Then after a day or two after all pins have been automatically tried and it has been unlocked, you’re in. I bet they have faster and more efficient methods than this via some secret unpatched vulnerabilities or exploits but if they ever run out of them, this tried and true method works too.
- tommiegannert 2y agoThat's why we have TPM chips now. If you could brute-force memory, you don't need (C), because it would be easier to automate than doing on-device.