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by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Don’t Use Face ID to Lock Your Phone

October 1, 2018

I have long said that using biometrics to lock your mobile device is a poor practice. You can be compelled to unlock your phone with a fingerprint, iris scan, facial recognition or some other type of biometric. The courts have determined that a passcode is knowledge and can't be compelled. The Verge reported that the FBI got a suspect, Grant Michalski, to unlock his iPhone with Face ID. They "placed the 703-359-0700 into airplane mode and examined it by looking through the files and folders manually and documenting the findings with pictures." Even though Michalski cooperated at the time of the initial search, the FBI can't access his device any more since they don't have the passcode. The FBI obtained a second warrant that allows them to bypass the phones passcode. I'll bet GrayKey is going to be used for that.

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