DETROIT COPS SEEM TO HAVE STUMBLES ON A NEW IOS 18.0 IPHONE SECURITY FEATURE
Well, this is a mystery. 404 Media broke the story about how some Detroit Cops are freaking out because a number of iPhones they seized to obtain digital evidence rebooted, and they have no idea why or how the reboots happened. It’s the kind of mystery we get to enjoy until there’s some kind of confirmation. But it sure seems like Apple’s new iOS 18.0 has at least one new security feature. And it’s the sort of feature that makes it a LOT harder for not just Detroit cops, but all cops, to obtain data against whoever they took the iPhones from.
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SEIZED IPHONES INDEPENDENTLY AND SPONTANEOUSLY REBOOTED, MAKING DATA RETRIEVAL A LOT HARDER
The idea that police shouldn’t be able to simply take our personal electronic devices and then access any and all data they contain is one I agree with. Depending on the authorities, simply seizing someone’s iPhone could be just as simple as a fishing expedition, or looking to find anything they might be able to use as leverage against a suspect. Well, or against someone who might even be friends with a suspect to use them as leverage. There’s some variety in the U.S. as to what latitude authorities have to access personal data, with or without a warrant. But these Detroit cops seem to be pretty upset about this new scenario that they totally don’t understand.
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ONE OF THE IPHONES WAS EVEN IN A FARADAY BOX, BUT IT SOMEHOW KNEW TO REBOOT, TOO
Why are these unexpected iPhone reboots relevant? Because generally our iPhones are in AFU state, or After First Unlock. But these in custody iPhones that rebooted mysteriously powered back on in BFU state, or Before First Unlock. And apparently not only is it a lot harder to access data from phones in BFU, it also greatly limits the data that even can be accessed. So if this rebooting in BFU is a new Apple iOS security feature, it’s a shocking dandy. And the Detroit cops are really flabbergasted about this happened, especially as one of the rebooting iPhones was in a Faraday box, which is supposed to block all signals.
But something triggered these iPhones to reboot, and the Detroit cops think they all may have somehow communicated with each other, even the one in a Faraday box. So you can make a sure bet that all cops in America know about this, even if they don’t know what to do. And so far, Apple isn’t copping any kind of confirmation about any of it. You can read more about 404 Media’s story here.
