this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2024
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Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which improves the security of iPhones overall and is making it harder for police to break into the devices, according to multiple iPhone security experts. 

On Thursday, 404 Media reported that law enforcement officials were freaking out that iPhones which had been stored for examination were mysteriously rebooting themselves. At the time the cause was unclear, with the officials only able to speculate why they were being locked out of the devices. Now a day later, the potential reason why is coming into view.

“Apple indeed added a feature called ‘inactivity reboot’ in iOS 18.1.,” Dr.-Ing. Jiska Classen, a research group leader at the Hasso Plattner Institute, tweeted after 404 Media published on Thursday along with screenshots that they presented as the relevant pieces of code.

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[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 318 points 3 weeks ago (23 children)

Law enforcement shouldn't be able to get into someone's mobile phone without a warrant anyway. All this change does is frustrate attempts by police to evade going through the proper legal procedures and abridging the rights of the accused.

[–] extremeboredom@lemmy.world 120 points 3 weeks ago

Yep! The police, being fascists, HATE this.

[–] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 44 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (12 children)

well it's kind of a selling point. I'm just too used to using android, though.

Edit - there's something for that too, cool!

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 50 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You can enable lockdown mode. It forces the next unlock to ignore biometrics and require a pin, which police cannot force you to divulge without a warrant. Once enabled, you get a "lockdown mode" option in the menu when you hold down your power button.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

If you haven't done this and need the same ability IMMEDIATELY: reboot, or just shut down

Every first boot requires pin same as lockdown

Also: set a nonstandard finger in a weird way as your finger unlock if you wanna use that, then theyre likely to fail to get that to work should you not manage to lock it down beforehand

Finally: there are apps that let you use alternate codes/finger unlocks to wipe/encrypt/reboot the device instead, allowing you to pretend to cooperate with the cops up until they realize they got played

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[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

You can use GrapheneOS, a security-focused version of Android which includes auto-reboot, timers that automatically turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth after you don't use them for a certain period of time, a duress PIN/Password that wipes all the data from your device after it's entered, as well as many other incredibly useful features.

It's fully hardened from the ground up, including the Linux kernel, C library, memory allocator, SELinux policies, default firewall rules, and other vital system components.

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[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 249 points 3 weeks ago

IT support everywhere sigh in satisfaction

[–] iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee 116 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

GrapheneOS also has this. Not sure stock android includes it.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 58 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

It does not. I don't have it on my Pixel 6. From other people's comments, it sounds like Samsung and other OEMs have added their version, though.

[–] darkevilmac@lemmy.zip 22 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Yeah, can confirm Samsung has this. I have auto reboot configured.

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[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

That seals the deal for me on rooting my pixel. I've been hesitant about rooting ever since I bricked an extra galaxy s3 and nearly bricked my (main device) Verizon galaxy s5

[–] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 15 points 3 weeks ago

If you have a factory pixel, you don't need to root. You can unlock bootloader and install a rom that has it (calyxos or grapheneos I know have them). You can root, but you don't have to.

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[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)
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[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 101 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

GrapheneOS been had this feature, don't let apple tell you they invented it.

[–] thisphuckinguy@lemmy.world 76 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Great software features should be available to all hardware, regardless of OS.

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 47 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

For sure I'm just joking about apple's habit of taking a feature that has been around for YEARS and claiming they "innovated" it, usually after they strip it down a little no less (like in this case where it appears to be a setting users can't access, but Graphene lets you turn it on/off or adjust the time between lock and reset.)

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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 28 points 3 weeks ago

IMHO, the novelty of the feature isn't what makes this headline worthy. This is noteworthy because of the scale. iOS is over a quarter of phones on earth, and in English speaking countries and Japan, you're looking at numbers that are often over 50%.

This will impact a LOT more investigations than Graphene, and I imagine Apple will be back in court fighting cops who want to remove privacy and security features. Hopefully this stuff stands up to the autocrats coming into power in the states.

[–] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 27 points 3 weeks ago

don't let apple tell you they invented it.

Why always the knee-jerk anti-apple reaction even if they do something good?

FYI: Apple isn’t telling anyone they invented this. In fact, they didn’t even tell anyone about this feature and declined to comment after it was discovered and people started asking questions.

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[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 93 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

There is no shortage of reasons to dislike Apple. This isn’t one of them.

[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

There is a scene in Mr Robot where Darlene is able to do a full wipe on her phone without even looking at the screen.

I wish I was that good.

I want a way that I can trigger this from the main lock screen without unlocking the phone.

Like a specific pin you have to enter twice to trigger the full wipe.

[–] hydration9806@lemmy.ml 33 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

GrapheneOS has this. I believe it's called a Duress PIN.

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[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (9 children)

I feel that a lot of the hate for Apple is not fully warranted. Contrary to Google or Facebook, their business model is not built on collecting your personal data. They are extremely overpriced, but deliver good quality - I am using my first iPhone for more than 4 years now, I never had and Android last nearly that long.

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[–] forest5@lonestarlemmy.mooo.com 73 points 3 weeks ago (13 children)

As a member of the intelligence community, I can almost guarantee that this is directed at the increased use of Cellebrite UFED hardware, specifically putting the device back into BFU mode, which removes cryptography-related memory allocations. This is also why you're asked for your password instead of face or fingerprint upon reboot.

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 26 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

I don’t know how Cellebrite is a legally operating company. Their entire business model is a violation of the computer fraud and abuse act.

[–] ilega_dh@feddit.nl 33 points 3 weeks ago

No that’s only for when poor people do it

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[–] PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee 18 points 3 weeks ago

Which is great, because you can't warrant a password.

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[–] CaptSneeze@lemmy.world 50 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

The way this article is framed sounds like bullshit to me. 18.1 was released less than 2 weeks ago. Any phone running this version of iOS would have had to already been in custody and somehow upgraded to this version, or otherwise brought into custody very recently—too recently for this to have already posed such a problem that law enforcement is “freaking out” and reporting it to the media.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 25 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Don't they auto update the OS when connected to a charger? But even then, that would have triggered a reboot already.

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[–] VantaBrandon@lemmy.world 45 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you Apple, right side of history here, fuck fascist pigs

[–] serenissi@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

Wouldn't that disrupt the usage of a phone as a server?

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 132 points 3 weeks ago (17 children)
[–] superkret@feddit.org 22 points 3 weeks ago

oh fuck I can't stop laughing

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[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 46 points 3 weeks ago

That's it!! Now I will NEVER use an iPhone as a server. 😋

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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 32 points 3 weeks ago

On one hand, Fuck Da Police

On the other hand, Fuck Apple

[–] uis@lemm.ee 31 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Meanwhile security-oriented Android forks: "You didn't do that?"

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (11 children)

Actually, Graphene and Calyx have this feature. I believe graphene may have it on by default at 18 hours, but I do not know about Calyx.

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[–] Teknikal@eviltoast.org 24 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I think this used to be possible with tasker, ironically though probably not anymore before of all Google's restrictions on Android. (maybe if you have root)

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[–] tupalos@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Why does rebooting it improve the safety or security of the phone?

[–] TaviRider@reddthat.com 74 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

When you first boot up a device, most data on that device is encrypted. This is the Before First Unlock (BFU) state. In order to access any of that data, someone must enter the passcode. The Secure Enclave uses it to recreate the decryption keys that allow the device to access that encrypted data. Biometrics like Face ID and Touch ID won’t work: they can’t be used to recreate the encryption keys.

Once you unlock the device by entering the passcode the device generates the encryption keys and uses them to access the data. It keeps those keys in memory. If it didn’t, you’d have to enter your passcode over and over again in order to keep using your device. This is After First Unlock (AFU) state.

When you’re in AFU state and you lock your device, it doesn’t throw away the encryption keys. It just doesn’t permit you to access your device. This is when you can use biometrics to unlock it.

In some jurisdictions a judge can legally force someone to enter biometrics, but can’t force them give up their passcode. This legal distinction in the USA is that giving a passcode is “testimonial” because it requires giving over the contents of your mind, and forcing suspects to do that is not legal in the USA. Biometrics aren’t testimonial, and so someone can be forced to use them, similar to how arrested people are forced to give fingerprints.

Of course, in practical terms this is a meaningless distinction because both biometrics and a passcode can grant access to nearly all data on a device. So one interesting thing about BFU vs AFU is that BFU makes this legal hair-splitting moot: biometrics don’t work in BFU state.

But that’s not what the 404 Media articles are about. It’s more about the forensic tools that can sometimes extract data even from a locked device. A device in AFU state has lots of opportunities for attack compared to BFU. The encryption keys exist, some data is already decrypted in memory, the lightning port is active, it will connect to Wi-Fi networks, and so on. This constitutes a lot of attack surface that hackers could potentially exploit to pull data off the device. In BFU state, there’s very little data available and almost no attack surface. Automatically returning a device to BFU state improves resistance to hacking.

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[–] nicerdicer@feddit.org 38 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Once rebooted, you need to enter your PIN to unlock the phone (and the SIM as well). Before that it is not possible to unlock the phone with biometric credentials (face ID or fingerprint).

As far as I'm aware, police can force you to hand over your biometric credentials (they can hold the phone to your face to unlock it when you have face ID enabled, or can move your finger to the fingerprint sensor). But they can't force you to reveal the PIN number.

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