Tag Archives: police

How Police Can Crack Locked Phones—and Extract Information

SMARTPHONE SECURITY MEASURES have grown increasingly sophisticated in recent years, evolving from passcodes to thumbprints to  face recognition and advanced encryption. A new report from the Washington, DC-based research nonprofit Upturn uncovers how police have maintained access to suspects’ phones even as these defenses grow more complex: by contracting with digital forensic firms that specialize in bypassing locks and accessing and copying encrypted data.