The FBI has been unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, a sometimes overlooked feature that makes iPhones broadly more secure, according to recently filed court records.

The court record shows what devices and data the FBI was able to ultimately access, and which devices it could not, after raiding the home of the reporter, Hannah Natanson, in January as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. It also provides rare insight into the apparent effectiveness of Lockdown Mode, or at least how effective it might be before the FBI may try other techniques to access the device.

“Because the iPhone was in Lockdown mode, CART could not extract that device,” the court record reads, referring to the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team, a unit focused on performing forensic analyses of seized devices. The document is written by the government, and is opposing the return of Natanson’s devices.

Archive: http://archive.today/gfTg9

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
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    13 hours ago

    I had to fiddle with some stuff to get the Google location history and Android Auto working. But if you’re using it for privacy-from-Google purposes you probably don’t care about those.

    Edit: also RCS and tap to pay with credit/debit card. Those require your carrier and Google to allow them, respectively.

    • napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org
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      2 hours ago

      But if you’re using it for privacy-from-Google purposes you probably don’t care about those.

      Correct, I am not using GrapheneOS to then give my data to Google willingly. Kinda defeats the purpose I would say. It is the right thing that this is blocked by default and you have to actively turn it on.

      also RCS

      Is this a country-specific topic? I don’t know a single person who still uses SMS/MMS to communicate. Everybody here uses WhatsApp or Signal.