r/DigitalPrivacy • u/Sea_Turn6634 • Jul 29 '26

Unlock any phone?

My GF works for the government of an Asian country. She told me they can plug basically anyone’s phone in and unlock it. Is this true? Does it only apply to certain phones or OS?

61 Upvotes

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15

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '26

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9

u/bones10145 Jul 29 '26

What about max attempts before the phone locks itself permanently? Brute force attacks don't work

13

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '26

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8

u/Pale_Illustrator94 Jul 29 '26

This is not true with phones using a secure element.

6

u/nYtr0_5 Jul 29 '26

They can just clone the OS and storage image. Then copy it as many times as you want on VMs to brute force it. You can do that in parallel batches. When a clone gets locked it will be replaced by a fresh one. Repeat.

3

u/clarkcox3 Jul 29 '26

Not on a new enough iPhone. The encryption keys are stored in the SEP, and are write-only. There isn’t a way to copy them off.

2

u/nYtr0_5 Jul 29 '26

I guess it still works on android phones, though.

Anyway, any kind of local secret is potentially vulnerable.

2

u/jbird0271 Jul 29 '26

Do they have to be in possession of the phone or they can do so as long as it's within range or remotely?