Police Freak Out at iPhones Mysteriously Rebooting Themselves, Locking Cops Out (404media.co) 24
Law enforcement officers are warning other officials and forensic experts that iPhones which have been stored securely for forensic examination are somehow rebooting themselves, returning the devices to a state that makes them much harder to unlock, 404 Media is reporting, citing a law enforcement document it obtained. From the report: The exact reason for the reboots is unclear, but the document authors, who appear to be law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan, hypothesize that Apple may have introduced a new security feature in iOS 18 that tells nearby iPhones to reboot if they have been disconnected from a cellular network for some time. After being rebooted, iPhones are generally more secure against tools that aim to crack the password of and take data from the phone.
"The purpose of this notice is to spread awareness of a situation involving iPhones, which is causing iPhone devices to reboot in a short amount of time (observations are possibly within 24 hours) when removed from a cellular network," the document reads. Apple did not provide a response on whether it introduced such an update in time for publication.
"The purpose of this notice is to spread awareness of a situation involving iPhones, which is causing iPhone devices to reboot in a short amount of time (observations are possibly within 24 hours) when removed from a cellular network," the document reads. Apple did not provide a response on whether it introduced such an update in time for publication.
Theft protection (Score:3)
I recently got notifications on my Pixel about enabling theft protection features that lock the screen if there's a suspected snatch of the phone. Plus another setting that will lock the phone if it goes offline. Seems reasonable to me.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: Theft protection (Score:5, Informative)
Then you unlock the screen.
The idea is that if someone snatches your phone from your hand they wonâ(TM)t have access to the unlocked phone.
Re:Theft protection (Score:4, Informative)
It just locks the phone, it doesn't make it explode. It's up to each user to decide if the extra hassle of unlocking after any false positives outweighs the added security of having the feature enabled.
Re: (Score:2)
It just locks the phone, it doesn't make it explode.
Except those intended for the Lebanese market.
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect the issue is less "rebooting" and more "iOS updates by itself"
That's the first feature I turn off. Reason being I don't want the fricken phone rebooting on me because I work from like 11pm to 8am and every stupid decide in the world decides the best time to reboot is 2AM.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a somewhat similar issue with my smart watch. It runs a backup to the phone, which then further backs that up into the cloud. The problem is, they designed it with "no one ever turns off their devices" in mind, so it will only run a backup in the middle of the night. Which is when both my phone and watch are shut off. There's no way to trigger the backup manually. So I either leave both on overnight once in a while, or live with "watch not backed up in over 7 days!" warnings. Sigh.
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect the issue is less "rebooting" and more "iOS updates by itself"
That's the first feature I turn off. Reason being I don't want the fricken phone rebooting on me because I work from like 11pm to 8am and every stupid decide in the world decides the best time to reboot is 2AM.
Every mobile phone I've ever had has prompted me to do a software update giving an install now or later option. The situation you talk about doesn't exist.
Turn your phone off at the border (Score:3)
Cops have tools to scan a phone's RAM. They can read the memory of active apps and possibly use the information to crack the device.
Always turn your phone off when going through customs or in any other scenario where it might be confiscated and searched.
Re: Turn your phone off at the border (Score:2)
Re: Turn your phone off at the border (Score:5, Interesting)
What about when they say it should be on so they can verify it or check it actually is a phone or laptop?
Thats what X-ray machines are for.
Never really quite understood the policy of “smash buttons until it makes lights” Neanderthal mentality with this kind of security validation. That’s a fucking bomb if it’s not a phone or laptop. Ask the bomb squad if they “power on” the bomb first to make sure it’s a bomb and not a phone.
Re: Turn your phone off at the border (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I wouldn't travel without a phone. What if you're stranded middle nowhere and need to call for a taxi? Or maybe you need to use the airline app to check some details or perform check-in. If you are concerned with a police search, get a burner phone. My local second-hand shop has iphone 7 starting 70 €, or older Samsung Galaxy for 50 €.
Re: (Score:2)
That’s a fucking bomb if it’s not a phone or laptop.
They assume the more likely option of drug smuggling. You'd have to remove components to make space so it won't boot.
Re: (Score:2)
You press the Power button like the police could do by themselves, then leave it like that. If it boots to the login manager, it is a functional device.
Re: Turn your phone off at the border (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"But what if I have nothing illegal on it and d
Have you tried turning it off and on again? (Score:3)
The police may be decrying it as a security feature (and it may be) but I'm inclined to say that it's probably just some kind of a self-repair protocol on the iPhone trying to revive the connection. I've been trying to reconnect for a day. It hasn't worked. Time for the ultimate fix.
Re: Have you tried turning it off and on again? (Score:2)
Seems like a reasonable assumption.
Or the Microsoft way.
Sorry, what exactly tells them to reboot? (Score:2)
hypothesize that Apple may have introduced a new security feature in iOS 18 that tells nearby iPhones to reboot if they have been disconnected from a cellular network for some time.
Not quite getting this theory. If the phones just rebooted themselves after not being connected I'd get it, but what the above sentence is saying is that something is "telling nearby phones to reboot"... what is the something that's sending that message? It's not the cell towers, because that's disconnected according to the theory.
It could be worse (Score:3)
They could be Israeli produced phones...