The U.S. Justice Department is prosecuting an American man for allegedly providing U.S. border authorities with a passcode that wiped the contents of his phone, a case believed to be the first of its kind in the United States where federal prosecutors have charged someone for the alleged destruction of data using a "duress" password, as first reported by TechCrunch.Atlanta resident Samuel Tunick is fighting charges that he provided a passcode to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents that caused his phone to delete its contents before seizure. The case involves a feature in GrapheneOS, a custom Android operating system, which allows a user to set a passcode that deliberately wipes the device if entered instead of the unlock passcode. Tunick's attorneys argue that the seizure of his phone was unlawful and that any evidence should be suppressed. They also claim the government was investigating Tunick for his association with the "Cop City" environmental movement, not for child exploitation imagery as initially suggested. The indictment accuses Tunick of violating a federal statute that prohibits destroying property to prevent its seizure. Security experts have noted the rarity of this statute being used in such a case, and the use of a duress password has not been seen before in similar legal proceedings. The court is expected to rule on Tunick's motion to suppress later this year.TechCrunch
Source: Application security, Endpoint/Device Security
Man charged for using phone’s ‘duress’ password to wipe data
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