On Thursday 404 Media reported that police were freaking out about mysteriously rebooting iPhones. Now multiple experts have found that Apple introduced code that reboots locked phones after a period of time.

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.

  • ContrarianTrail@lemm.eeEnglish
    81·
    13 days ago

    I’m the only guy in my (small) friend group who still used pattern code instead of fingerprint so I take that to mean my phone is by default more difficult to break into than most. Giving my fingerprint to a giantic tech firm has always seemed like a bad idea so I never did. Though the fingerprint reader acts as a power button too so who knows if they’ve scanned it anyway.

    • Damage@feddit.itEnglish
      16·
      13 days ago

      Afaik the fingerprint is stored on dedicated hardware on your device, it never leaves your phone and cannot be “read”

      • Crashumbc@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        13 days ago

        Any modern phone os locks to pin after 3 tries.

        Now depending how good they are, it’s often possible to guess it by looking at the smear patterns on the phone.

      • wellheh@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        4·
        13 days ago

        Most phones aren’t letting you try more than 5 attempts before you’re locked out. You can even set it up to erase after the attempts

        • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
          71·
          13 days ago

          Most attacks are done offline. If they clone the encrypted partition, they can brute-force as fast as they want. Pin lockouts can’t protect against that.

        • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
          31·
          13 days ago

          You are showing a limited understanding of law enforcement’s capabilities for brute force attacks.

          They make an imagine ofnthe device and then brute force it so you better have that 16 character password.

          • wellheh@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            2·
            13 days ago

            Makes sense, but in that case, why do law enforcement even care if the OS reboots itself if they already have a copy of the encrypted contents?

            • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
              1·
              13 days ago

              properly passworded os still has vulnerabilities that they want to exploit.

              OP is just one vulnerability closed.

              You mentioned wipe feature after fialed tries, thats a tactic that a person with serious threat model can use but cops go a work around it.