this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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327
FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled (www.404media.co)
submitted 9 hours ago by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
88 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The FBI has been unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, a sometimes overlooked feature that makes iPhones broadly more secure, according to recently filed court records.

The court record shows what devices and data the FBI was able to ultimately access, and which devices it could not, after raiding the home of the reporter, Hannah Natanson, in January as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. It also provides rare insight into the apparent effectiveness of Lockdown Mode, or at least how effective it might be before the FBI may try other techniques to access the device.

“Because the iPhone was in Lockdown mode, CART could not extract that device,” the court record reads, referring to the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team, a unit focused on performing forensic analyses of seized devices. The document is written by the government, and is opposing the return of Natanson’s devices.

Archive: http://archive.today/gfTg9

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[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 25 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

One shortcoming of lockdown mode, as far as I can tell: you can pair your phone and watch so locking your phone will lock your watch as well, but you can’t do the reverse. It seems more likely that a hostile party would get access to your phone first while you still (temporarily) have control of your watch, so being able to lock your phone from your watch would be extremely useful. (Or for that matter, set lockdown mode to trigger automatically if your watch is removed or your watch and phone move to different locations.)

[–] whereIsTamara@lemmy.org 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Swallow it.

[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

“Can I cook mine?”

“No, you must eat it raw.”

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That seems like a very simple problem to just not need to worry about.

Just don't buy a smartwatch.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

It’s not that the watch is an added vulnerability (there’s little info accessible via the watch once the phone is locked)—it’s just a missed opportunity.