Phone & Computer Passwords after

[benjaminbusdriver]

My phone and computer auto-lock after periods of inactivity. I have an iPhone (5 min) and Macbook Pro (setting is 30min). Is it possible for family or police to gain access without my passwords? It's like access to my brain that I do not want. I was going to destroy them just in case, but I'm worried about something could go wrong last minute when I ctb and I'll have no technology afterward to stop my timed emails, etc. Too many small details to think about today LOL. What's your best suggestion?

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

The police can gain access without passwords. With regard to the computer, even if you restore it to factory settings, a forensic analyst could still recover past data if the police are motivated to pursue it.

I agree that it's wise to not destroy them in case you change your mind or the attempt fails.

 

[DyslexicForeigner]

If you have the latest Apple flagship smartphone, with the latest iOS update, than you're in luck! No Android latest flagship equivalent could match up with Apple product in terms of privacy and device security.

 

[Lifeiswildsuperwild]

Yes. They can. It's 2020. With mass shooters and whatnot- especially in the states. The authorities have gotten really good at cracking passwords and devices.

If you destroy these devices they would even have more suspicions I would assume.

And if you used google logged in. Regardless of if you "clear history"- it's only cleared for you. That information is still held and they can request it if necessary.

they say for iPhone- is 10+ random characters if you want them to take a long time to crack it- unsure for Mac computer.

if you used iCloud. Disable it and the information will be erased after 30 days.

 

[HadEnough1974]

My phone and computer auto-lock after periods of inactivity. I have an iPhone (5 min) and Macbook Pro (setting is 30min). Is it possible for family or police to gain access without my passwords? It's like access to my brain that I do not want. I was going to destroy them just in case, but I'm worried about something could go wrong last minute when I ctb and I'll have no technology afterward to stop my timed emails, etc. Too many small details to think about today LOL. What's your best suggestion?

Remove the hard drive. Place hard drive in plastic bag, ziplock. Then place the ziplock bag with hard drive into a garbage bag. Use duct tape, seal it completely. Bury the entire thing at least 1 foot into the ground. Attempt your ctb. If you fail or change your mind, you still have your hard drive, buried somewhere.

 

[DyslexicForeigner]

Yes. They can. It's 2020. With mass shooters and whatnot- especially in the states. The authorities have gotten really good at cracking passwords and devices.

If you destroy these devices they would even have more suspicions I would assume.

And if you used google logged in. Regardless of if you "clear history"- it's only cleared for you. That information is still held and they can request it if necessary.

they say for iPhone- is 10+ random characters if you want them to take a long time to crack it- unsure for Mac computer.

if you used iCloud. Disable it and the information will be erased after 30 days.

Just use 12 digits custom Alphanumberic password, disable face ID, disable fingerprint unlock, and disable USB accessories access in Face ID & Passcode settings!

 

[benjaminbusdriver]

Remove the hard drive. Place hard drive in plastic bag, ziplock. Then place the ziplock bag with hard drive into a garbage bag. Use duct tape, seal it completely. Bury the entire thing at least 1 foot into the ground. Attempt your ctb. If you fail or change your mind, you still have your hard drive, buried somewhere.

That is a good idea. I'm just thinking of logistics. My email time delay will limit the window I have to recover it, but I do like this idea. It would only be buried a few hours if that happened, assuming I'm not brain dead.

 

[MaybeSoon]

Do police really waste time and resources hacking and retrieving data from someones's phone and computer when they've killed themselves? Surely if you leave a note that will be the end of it.

 

[Lifeiswildsuperwild]

Do police really waste time and resources hacking and retrieving data from someones's phone and computer when they've killed themselves? Surely if you leave a note that will be the end of it.

Nah- they gotta make sure it's not a false note and stuff. Also investigate the cause. Per it being cyber bullying or something of the sort.

 

[FohPah]

Do your devices have encrypted storage? If they do, then you can just power them off, and there will be no way to access the data without the password. (Whether someone could brute-force guess the password is a different question. But that shouldn't be a problem, because you *do* use strong passwords... right?) If they don't, then someone can just remove the flash memory and inspect it.

If your device has encrypted storage, and you lock the screen but don't power it off, I'm actually not sure if someone could access the data on it. I can conceive of a way to do it, but I don't know if your devices have countermeasures against that.