The recent federal raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson isn’t merely an attack by the Trump administration on the free press. It’s also a warning to anyone with a smartphone.
Included in the search and seizure warrant for the raid on Natanson’s home is a section titled “Biometric Unlock,” which explicitly authorized law enforcement personnel to obtain Natanson’s phone and both hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics: the convenient shortcuts that let you unlock your phone by scanning your fingerprint or face.-
It is not clear if Natanson used biometric authentication on her devices, or if the law enforcement personnel attempted to use her face or fingers to unlock her devices. Natanson and the Washington Post did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
Or at the very least; turn your phone entirely off (shutdown) whenever you expect or encounter police contact.
Biometrics only work when the device is already running. Mobile devices are in their most locked down/secure state when ‘at rest’, ie shutdown.
In android; there is also a ‘lockdown’ mode you can quickly activate from the power off screen, that disables Biometrics until next unlock with a pin/pattern, but doesn’t fully shutdown so you can still quickly access things like the camera. This has to be explicitly enabled in settings first and will not offer much protection from various lockscreen bypass software available to law enforcement.
Also, don’t take your phone to protests. ACAB.
Wear clothing that can’t identify you. Hide tattoos and anything that might make you stand out. Get clothes from a free giveaway place, without cameras. Walk a bit differently if you need to.
Cover your face and cover surveillance cameras, or break them, or hack them (do the latter two only if you know what you’re doing).
Wear a body cam. Get bear and pepper spray. Pigs can fucking get it.
I’ve been debating buying a burner phone for protests, leaving my main phone elsewhere, and only powering on the burner when it’s needed. Probably the only way to bring a phone to a protest.
Buy an older pixel and install Graphene
Keep it off/in a faraday bag at all times, never turn it on at home. Go to elsewhere to set it up.
If they REALLY want you, you will get got.
But there’s no reason to make it easy.
100% it’s always a question of your resources vs theirs, but you’re dead on to make it harder.
I’ll just add to also turn it off, pull the SIM, and show in a Faraday bag on your way back too. If the recent reporting about ICE buying location data from ad networks shows anything, it’s that they are interested in a capability of following people to and from protests. Graphene should obviate this by disabling Google Play services by default anyway.
You should leave your regular phone at home, go to another place, power on your other device, speak your part in public, then travel another location and power off. This provides no consistent start or end location to work with for a particular device.
You can also buy faraday bags, if you want a phone available but not online. But it’s still there physically so burner would still be a good choice.
Just test it first. I got a faraday bag of Amazon and it didn’t work.
100%. I tested mine with calls and making sure the wifi and Bluetooth didn’t go through.
Hide tattoos and anything that might make you stand out.
so what do i do with my prosthetic limbs?
If you remove them police won’t know you have them
you accidentally a word there
Fixed!
For the clothing thing, it should be enough to buy from a thrift store. Just pay with cash to be safe. Although if you’re planning to do something that’ll make you of particular interest this may not be enough. Thrift stores do have cameras, and the police could theoretically look for a particular set of clothing being purchased. Its incredibly unlikely and would take a ridiculous amount of effort, but it is possible.
Bicycles don’t have license plates if you need a faster way.
Five clicks of the lock button on an iPhone will force a password or pin to enable biometrics again.
You should always turn off / reboot your phone if you expect it to be potentially be taken
Simply being locked after being unlocked once leaves the phone in a less secure state than if it was fully off or just rebooted and never unlocked.
If you need your phone to record the interaction, then you might only get as far as locking it, but always strive to shut it down.
In android; there is also a ‘lockdown’ mode you can quickly activate from the power off screen, that disables Biometrics until next unlock with a pin/pattern, but doesn’t fully shutdown so you can still quickly access things like the camera. This has to be explicitly enabled in settings first and will not offer much protection from various lockscreen bypass software available to law enforcement.
2 things. Unless I accidentally enabled this setting, it’s on by default. And what do you mean by lockscreen bypass software. What would be the point of lockdown if its not effective against law enforcement trying to brute force your privacy?
it’s on by default
It may well be on by default now. I just know I had to enable it the last time I looked at this.
what do you mean by lockscreen bypass software
Tools such as those provided by Cellebrite and similar.
Lockdown mode is mainly to disable biometrics, to prevent someone on the street forcibly using them to unlock your device. It’s not going to stop an entire agency with more sophisticated tools.
In android; there is also a ‘lockdown’ mode you can quickly activate from the power off screen, that disables Biometrics until next unlock with a pin/pattern
On iOS, with a locked device, quickly press the lock button five times to do the same, it should bring up the power off/SOS screen, which you can dismiss.
This can also be done by holding down both power and volume up buttons for a few seconds.
TIL thanks!!!
i guess another way is to use those shitty privacy screen protectors that do not work with fingerprints at all. They can try all they want, its not gonna work.
Its really not difficult to take it off.
Or just use lockdown mode.
Or better yet use GrapheneOS 2FA biometric + PIN + duress PIN + auto reboot:
- If someone spies on you unlocking your phone, they don’t get your encryption password
- If they figure out your PIN, they can’t unlock your phone without you physically being there, and your phone may reboot to the password unlock before they get it to you
- If they compel you to use biometrics, they can’t legally compel you to give them your PIN
- If they decide to start trying out common PINs and you set your duress PIN to one of them, then it wipes your phone
Or grapheneos but compartmentalize sensitive data to a profile where you use no fingerprints, only pins. Duress can be entered anywhere right? So if you’re being compromised , enter the duress pin.
Why would you use only PIN when you can use both?
You could set it up so that only your left pinky works. After they try the other more likely fingers they’re just going to figure it didn’t work.
Yes maybe, but. Is that any more or less convenient than a pin/passcode? Also, the most cursory surveillance prior to arrest will note the strange way you unlock your phone.
hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics
This isn’t bypassing biometrics. This is using biometrics as intended. Bypassing implies this was an unexpected side effect when every security researcher ever has warned that biometrics is intrinsically vulnerable and a terrible password substitute for this exact reason.
Jokes on the cops, my finger barely works half the time and I have to end up doing my doodle.
I know this was in jest but seems on topic with the post - please switch from pattern to PIN (or better still, password). Pattern is orders of magnitude easier to crack than PIN.
What’s interesting is that the DC Circuit doesn’t allow authorities to force someone to unlock their device with biometrics. I’m assuming that Natanson’s home is not inside the DC Circuit.
It’s a legally unclear area right now whether or not authorities can force you to unlock your device with biometrics. As such, it’s better not to use them: https://decentproject.org/should-you-use-biometrics-on-your-phone
How is current USA administration performing these clear gestapo level violations of amendments and everyone’s just like “okay”. ?!
Here is a neat little trick if the gestapo tries to raid your phone:
Americans: wow, how neat and normal
Because there’s no resistance to follow. We have no leaders out there speaking against this. It’s a massive population of sheep being governed by wolves
Pedowolves
I don’t know what it is on android, but five quick presses of the primary button on iOS will put the phone into a mode where you must enter your password to unlock it.
yeah that puts my phone in SOS mode, so maybe not that on Android
Android has a feature you can turn on that adds “lockdown mode” as an option if you hold the power button, which requires a password. I just tried taking a screenshot, but I don’t think I can while in the power menu.
You can also just turn your phone off. Biometrics don’t work on a fresh boot.
You can just set it up so biometrics can’t unlock the phone but can be used to get into banking apps, password managers, etc. I’ve had this set up for a couple years and it is no less convenient than using the biometrics honestly.
It’s in: settings > screen lock and biometrics > unlock type set to PIN and then you can activate biometrics and turn off the slider that indicates unlock device.
Also pressing the primary and a volume key for a couple of seconds.
Why? Apple and Google will just unlock it for them later.
Yeah but you might as well make them work for it.
It might save the next guy because they don’t have time.
Didn’t apple go to war with the FBI over exactly this? Or did I miss where they changed their tune.
Yeah. Like 10 years ago. Not sure they would have the same stance now. MS just bent over backwards to give out bitlocker keys.
Yep, unless you are using grapheneOS, Lineage, Fairphone, Jolla, … you are screwed
Do you mean e/is? Fairphone is hardware, but uses either e/os or android
right, E/OS option
The only safe phone is a phone with a strong password thats in a powered down state. Otherwise there are tools to gain full access.
The only safe phone is a phone with no data.
Otherwise there will be tools to gain full access.
Without forgetting the good old rubber hose attack
FWIW I think the only way to keep confidential information is hosted in another country, encrypted, with no credentials (or even the name of the server) cached, all on open sources stacks, with the infrastructure provider different from the operating system provider different from the application provider and encryption provider
Is this convenient? No Is this accessible to the average user? No
I just think something at certain point went extremely wrong in history. We accepted control in exchange of convenience
I think the only way to keep confidential information is hosted in another country
that’s not good enough anymore. decades ago the US put enough pressure on switzerland to end the use of anonymous banking and set up what’s called SWIFT and KYC. do you really think putting datacenters in other countries will be enough protection like banks in switzerland “was”?
Of course not! For this reason you need different providers and jurisdictions for datacenters, operating systems, encryption providers.
It’s the very same principle tor works: sure you can do traffic analysis and be able to “unmask” a tor user… and for this reason tor deliberately sends traffic across 3 different jurisdictions. Is it still possible to force 3 different nodes to cooperate for the unmasking? Sure… but you need 3 jurisdictions to collaborate with that.
Also, fun fact: bank secrecy is still in effect for Swiss residents (regardless of the citizenship) and people resident outside of the US and EU. Because things are always more nuanced than they seem 🙂
Alright, I already “umm, ackshually’d” someone in this thread but this post in particular hit a nerve with me. The Tor security model is based on 3 hops but does not guarantee 3 different jurisdictions. Their circuit building only takes into account “jurisdiction” in the way we’re using it here if you use guard nodes or specific cases when you cannot access the network directly or look like you’re exiting from a Tor node.
That said, it’s still a very strong project and security model. And everything you said about spreading out your providers without a single point of failure (or pressure) applies.
I haven’t looked in the tor protocol for more than a decade but if routing was done based on traditional networking parameters (ttl distance, ping, etc) pretty sure you would end up all your nodes in your jurisdiction.
If you were using pure random, routing may involve only US (where there are a significant percentage of nodes)
Instead you can see that rarely there are two nodes in the same jurisdiction.
Years ago there were a config file mapping countries to jurisdictions and maybe that has been ditched but still I don’t buy that it is pure random or using traditional routing criteria
“secrecy”
all it takes is a subpoena from any jurisdiction, and that secrecy disappears, proving it never existed.
Real world example
We accepted control at expense of convenience
I would have thought it would be more accurate to say we accepted convenience at the expense of privacy and security…
Yes, of course, it was a mistake, I reworded that sentece
Just also stop saving critical stuff on your phone you’ll never use nor open again. A good mailbox is an empty mailbox, empty signal chat and so on. With AI it is leaking any away possibly out your phone
For my apps, I use biometric unlocks. To get in passed the lock screen to get onto my phone’s home screen, I have to enter a pattern. I figure that if they’re already passed the pattern, more pattern won’t stop any unauthorized user. So, it really isn’t worth the inconvenience to enter the pattern for all my apps (like banking, cc, investments, etc.) over and over. But, if they can’t figure out my pattern after so many tries, my phone auto-erases.
phone auto-erases.
i’m WAAAY too clumsy and forgetful to have auto-erase on!
yeah, just wait until you start getting tremors. auto-erase will fuck you over
that’s precisely why i never stopped using a password to access my phone.
The downside to always using a passcode is that if you ever type it in public, cameras can capture what you type. Some of Flock’s cameras specifically have been shown to automatically zoom in on phones as well, I’m sure they aren’t the only ones that do so.
Personally, I’d just prefer locking it (by holding volume up and the side button), when I’m in a situation where LE might unlawfully demand I unlock it.
You actually type “hunter2” in every time you want to unlock?
Yep. The only time it ever feels like a legit issue is while driving, but nobody is supposed to be on their phone while driving in the first place, biometrics or not. It takes almost no time to pull over if absolutely necessary.
Why did you type *******? You could just type a made up pass to use as the example, like “hunter2”
These days it has to be something like 1Hunt3r2!l} because enhanced security.
i like those password managers that make up word strings so it’s like hunter2,facepaint,ducks, now
now i just have to type in CatsTheButtholeCut every time
Instead of using your face or fingerprint to unlock it they could demand that you just type the password, could they not?
From a legal perspective, no. Passwords would be a 5th amendment issue.
“I don’t recall.”
Good question. In the U.S. It violates your fifth amendment right not to testify against yourself/self-incriminate… unless a person doesn’t know that and voluntarily unlocks it.
Nope, believe it or not, that’s treated entirely differently. Considered to be covered by the 5th amendment since you would be required to provide information that could be self-incriminating.
No.
There is no search warrant for the contents of your mind.
Of course “rubber hose decrypt” is always an option, but we’re not quite there yet.
Of course “rubber hose decrypt” is always an option, but we’re not quite there yet.
I really think we are.
Aren’t we?
I believe it gets a bit trickier because you can use your right to remain silent? They also can’t physically force you to speak the password but they can restrain you and unlock your phone by force.
