A U.S. citizen has asked a court to throw out the government's claim that he gave over a passcode to border authorities that wiped his phone's data, opening up fresh questions about a person's constitutional rights at the U.S. border.
Even on iOS, you can disable biometrics by entering the power/SOS menu. Just hold the lock button and volume down for like two seconds, and biometrics are now disabled until the passcode is entered.
Worth noting that this doesn’t actually re-encrypt the device. The device boots in an encrypted state, and entering the passcode allows the phone to unencrypt itself to function. But disabling the biometrics doesn’t re-encrypt the device. You would need to reboot to accomplish that. But if you’re able to access the power menu, you’re probably able to hit the “Power Off” option too.
I only make the distinction because cops have started imaging devices after confiscating them. If they manage to image your device while it’s unencrypted, they can take their time with whatever new exploit/bypass is discovered in the future. But if the device is encrypted when they image it, they’d only get an encrypted data blob and would need to actually break the encryption instead of being able to use a passcode bypass method.
iOS actually has a hidden “reboot if inactive after a little while” feature, specifically to re-encrypt an idle device. Most users only encounter it when they wake up in the morning and have to enter their passcode. But the point is that cops usually process devices in batches, so it usually takes them at least a few hours to get to your device. So if the device has been idle for a while, it will quietly reboot to encrypt itself. This also helps protect against future passcode bypasses that may be discovered, because an attacker would only get the encrypted data blob if they bypass the code on an encrypted device.
Even on iOS, you can disable biometrics by entering the power/SOS menu. Just hold the lock button and volume down for like two seconds, and biometrics are now disabled until the passcode is entered.
Worth noting that this doesn’t actually re-encrypt the device. The device boots in an encrypted state, and entering the passcode allows the phone to unencrypt itself to function. But disabling the biometrics doesn’t re-encrypt the device. You would need to reboot to accomplish that. But if you’re able to access the power menu, you’re probably able to hit the “Power Off” option too.
I only make the distinction because cops have started imaging devices after confiscating them. If they manage to image your device while it’s unencrypted, they can take their time with whatever new exploit/bypass is discovered in the future. But if the device is encrypted when they image it, they’d only get an encrypted data blob and would need to actually break the encryption instead of being able to use a passcode bypass method.
iOS actually has a hidden “reboot if inactive after a little while” feature, specifically to re-encrypt an idle device. Most users only encounter it when they wake up in the morning and have to enter their passcode. But the point is that cops usually process devices in batches, so it usually takes them at least a few hours to get to your device. So if the device has been idle for a while, it will quietly reboot to encrypt itself. This also helps protect against future passcode bypasses that may be discovered, because an attacker would only get the encrypted data blob if they bypass the code on an encrypted device.