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.
On the iPhone you can also press both the upper left and right button. It will enable that you can only log in with a password, even if you have Face ID/Touch ID.
You can also establish that if there are too many false attempts to log in, the phone will delete all data. I could imagine that if you kept most phone data on the phone itself, rather than in the cloud, this can be useful. E.g. insert the password wrongly multiple times.
And if you’re feeling really concerned, you can make a Faraday cage (preventing it from sending data altogether). Wrap a plastic bag around, then aluminium foil tightly without gaps, then plastic… repeat three times.
Alternatively, put it in a microwave. Or a stainless trash can with a tight lid, lining the inside with (optional: cardboard first, then…) plastic wrap, maybe more foil. Phone also foiled.