Comments on: London cops want to suck your phone dry in an instant

By: dragonfrog

dragonfrog — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:29:00 +0000

If you consider the dot position to be the same as a number, then I think you’d be better off using a numeric PIN with the same number of digits as your pattern covers dots.

The keyspace is larger with a PIN – with a pattern, each dot must be adjacent to the previous one. So, if you’re trying to guess your way through it, after guessing a ’1′ for the first digit/dot, the second one could be anything from 1-9 for a PIN, but only a 2, 4, or 5 for a pattern.

By: dragonfrog

dragonfrog — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:24:00 +0000

Oh, nice! Can I ask, is your phone jailbroken?

By: Jade Falcon

Jade Falcon — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:53:00 +0000

And nobody EVER expects the Spanish Inquisition!

By: gabi boldis

gabi boldis — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:56:00 +0000

when rioting, leave your phone at home

By: gabi boldis

gabi boldis — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:56:00 +0000

when rioting, leave your phone at home

By: teapot

teapot — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:54:00 +0000

Fuck these assholes. You know what we need? Some kind of incendiary add-on that is able to be remotely activated and immediately sets the device on fire when it detects attempts to crack the phone’s encryption. A few burned down police stations should help change their mind on this. As long as you had a warning screen that made completely clear that any attempt to extract data will result in a fire I don’t see how it would be illegal.

Don’t carry it onto a plane though :)

By: christopher merkel

christopher merkel — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:02:00 +0000

I know it’s goofy to reply to myself, and at the risk of stating the obvious, pay cash for the above (or anonymous cash equivalents) in places without CCTV. Large retailers keep track of your IMEI/ESN, tie it to bank card information, then back to you.

By: Duncan Toms

Duncan Toms — Fri, 18 May 2012 01:56:00 +0000

Cory, Alex is right. The are based in Southampton. “Aceso Field empowers police officers with the ability to examine and interrogate digital mobile devices, quickly and accurately, from a convenient, lightweight, handheld terminal.”

Fully portable, light and robust.Weight: 1.1kg. Fan-less, dust and water resistant (MILSTD-810F) and IP65 certified 6 foot drop rating.Secure key card log in.Safely block network access using our patent pending Handset Access Card.High levels of security and integrity.SIM-less handset acquisition.Simple to use touch-screen technology.7” sunlight readable touch-screen to allow easy, clear viewing.Complete, detailed acquisition audit trail with all data AES encrypted.Batteries support up to 8 hours’ continuous use and are hot swappable.Data capture from devices such as GPS and flash media.Metadata access.Accesses critical details, including time and date, geotagging and make and model of device used.Complete set of cables and peripherals.

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:01:00 +0000

That way the government has constant access.

By: Ben Roomberg

Ben Roomberg — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:56:00 +0000

http://xkcd.com/936/
Simple advice for impossible to guess easy to write/remember passwords

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:20:00 +0000

I’m above reproach, so nothing *I* do is questionable. That means questionable things are what everybody else does. Pretty simple.

By: Brad Zimmerman

Brad Zimmerman — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:10:00 +0000

It’s safe to say that even most security-conscious people do not use a properly strong password on their phones. Who wants to spend 10-20 seconds typing in a long/complex password on their phone? Few, very few.

By: Agile Cyborg

Agile Cyborg — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:05:00 +0000

Please fucking define ‘questionable’ per awjt. ‘Questionable’ you see, is a very, very subjective state depending on your position to power. Plus, ‘questionable’ can change based on perception or profile. I’ll check back in for your answer.

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:58:00 +0000

We BoingBoing commenters are all on a list.

(though it may just be Obama’s “Reading List” in Safari)

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:52:00 +0000

I use the pattern lock on my Android phone. I also carry it in the neoprene pouch it came with (stuck into a second, slightly larger thin leather iPhone pouch which I use as my wallet), which is like microfiber and which actually wipes off the screen while it’s in my pocket (a limited amount).

However most importantly, I wipe my thumbs all over the screen (besides when I’m actually using the touchscreen) almost every time I’m about to put it away in an attempt to clear the smudges off. Not because I’m paranoid – just so it doesn’t get too smudgy, though it has the effect of eliminating the grease trail pattern lock problem too.

By: Richard_Kirk

Richard_Kirk — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Have at least one biggish file containing entirely random data. The only way you can tell properly encoded data from random data is by decrypting it. So if you are asked for the key to a particular file you can truthfully say that there is no key and it contains no data. Okay, you will still end up in dungeon deep, in durance vile, for failure to provide evidence incriminating yourself.

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:14:00 +0000

Nope. I know that I don’t do questionable things. YOU, however….

By: andygates

andygates — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:12:00 +0000

You only think you don’t do questionable things. You’re leaving (we’re all leaving) a nice tasty trail for any fishing expedition you may get caught up in. Nobody expects to get cancer either.

By: andygates

andygates — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:09:00 +0000

A dinky thermite phone jacket. Accept no imitations!

By: andygates

andygates — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:06:00 +0000

That sounds more like frightened cyborg than agile. We’ll work this.

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:36:00 +0000

If I were going to do questionable things, I’d make damn sure that I didn’t

1. google anything on it
2. email anyone about it
3. store shit on my phone or computer about it
4. go on the InnerWebTubez and leave comments on blogs
5. or leave a trail of any kind.

Then there would be no need for encryption or all of this fuss. But I don’t do questionable things, so there you have it.

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Don’t use passwords. Use devices. And if they can’t find ‘em and you don’t know where they are or who has ‘em, you’re covered.

By: awjt

awjt — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:26:00 +0000

You only get it after you’ve practiced your Malthusian Drills.

By: Adam Plagge

Adam Plagge — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:19:00 +0000

It seems the legal system has yet to adapt to the digital world. The notion something is or is not searchable because its digitally stored in a cloud or on your phone it ridiculous.

By: FelixDio

FelixDio — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Reading the Guardian article, it appears that this isn’t some new thing the London Filt…err…police are using: they are just upgrading to the same stuff used elsewhere in the UK already.

But you can’t help but notice that this appears to be a RIM press release in disguise:
“BlackBerry devices were “an interesting challenge”, Gill said: “they’re built from the ground up to be secure, which isn’t true for other phones which are more aimed at the consumer.” The onboard encryption on BlackBerry devices means that if it is used, no useful data can be extracted from it without the decryption key.”

Wow, just like the “onboard encryption” on any recent iPhone or Android device…

By: Gene Poole

Gene Poole — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:20:00 +0000

I would assume it would have to be harder to crack due to the need for manual human input; you couldn’t automate the efforts. With that said, however, I think the pattern lock is actually less secure than a pass phrase because of where the info is stored. Patten lock doesn’t work with full disc encryption.

By: B.

B. — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:18:00 +0000

I haz Whispercore and it’s awesome (just wish it would get an ICS update). Even better than the screen lock is the Selective Permissions app that comes with it. Every Android should have these features.

By: Wreckrob8

Wreckrob8 — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:17:00 +0000

In which case you don’t have to worry about your phone (at least in London). The Met will just shoot you for looking suspiciously foreign.

By: Fudo Myoö

Fudo Myoö — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:15:00 +0000

you mean like CarrierIQ?

By: alfanovember

alfanovember — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Like a copy of Microsoft Bob, for example.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.07.windowsconfidential.aspx