For the first time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has unlocked a suspect's iPhone X using Face ID. The US agency arrested Grant Michalski, an Ohio resident accused of receiving and possessing data child pornography, to unlock his iPhone X on August 10.
It should be noted that the FBI had the necessary search warrant to compel Michalski to unlock his phone.
After opening the phone, FBI Special Agent David Knight discovered Kik conversations chat-messenger που αφορούσαν κακοποίηση ανηλίκων. Ο Michalski είχε μιλήσει με έναν αστυνομικό που υποδυόταν ένα πατέρα που ενδιαφερόταν να κάνει σεξ με παιδιά. Είχε ανταλλάξει επίσης μηνύματα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου με άλλο ύποπτο (τον William Weekley) για σεξουαλική επαφή με ανηλίκους.
Despite unlocking Michalski's phone, Knight was unable to gather more information due to a new iOS feature. This function requires the input of a code accesss to transfer the data to a computer.
Under US law, suspects are not required to disclose passwords, but there is no law for facial and fingerprint data. So because of the vagueness of the law, authorities can ask anyone to unlock their device using biometric data.
The warrant we mentioned above did not allow Knight to request the password to examine the data. However, the Columbus Police Department and the Ohio State Bureau of Investigation were able to unlock the device with special tools.
Companies like Grayshift and Cellebrite have long had services for accessing locked iPhones. Both companies have contracts with various US government agencies.
Apple and the US authorities seem to be playing the mouse game with her cat since 2016, when the company from Cupertino refused to unlock a suspect's phone. The company later rolled out a feature in iOS 11 that allowed users to temporarily disable touchID by pressing its volume up button sound five times. Recently, someone even made a shortcut in iOS 12 to automatically disable the iPhone camera in case of a police investigation.
If you are interested in this shortcut you can download it from here.
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