The search warrant to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home shows how authorities can open your phone without your consent.

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.

  • Lka1988@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    26·
    11 hours ago

    Find your device’s “lockdown” feature (disables fingerprint/face entry) and enable that in any potentially sketchy situation.

    I don’t know how to trigger it on iOS, but my Pixel has the “lockdown” mode option on the same window as “shutdown” and “reboot”, which can be accessed at any time by briefly holding the power button.

    • dan@upvote.au
      5·
      8 hours ago

      Wouldn’t it be better to just turn the phone off? Seems like it’s about the same amount of effort, and it won’t have anything unencrypted in RAM any more.

      • TeamAssimilation@infosec.pubEnglish
        3·
        6 hours ago

        It’s already in the same screen, both on Android and iOS, so of course it is much better, and not less convenient, to shutdown instead.

        I can’t think of any reason not to, besides “I might want to unlock it real quick”, which is exactly what you’re preventing on this scenario.

    • overthere@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      15·
      11 hours ago

      On iOS, you can press the power button five times in a row or hold the power button and volume up button together. Either one of those disables biometric login.

      Of course, you need to know that you need to do that and have the chance to do so.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
      103·
      10 hours ago

      This assumes you have the time to activate it. If someone comes up and snatches your phone before you have time to activate it, it’s useless. Just don’t use biometrics at all.