The recent federal raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson isn’t merely an attack by the Trump administration on the free press. It’s also a warning to anyone with a smartphone.
Included in the search and seizure warrant for the raid on Natanson’s home is a section titled “Biometric Unlock,” which explicitly authorized law enforcement personnel to obtain Natanson’s phone and both hold the device in front of her face and to forcibly use her fingers to unlock it. In other words, a judge gave the FBI permission to attempt to bypass biometrics: the convenient shortcuts that let you unlock your phone by scanning your fingerprint or face.-
It is not clear if Natanson used biometric authentication on her devices, or if the law enforcement personnel attempted to use her face or fingers to unlock her devices. Natanson and the Washington Post did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
Fair point, what’s then the safest?
I don’t think there’s necessarily a safest, thats a moving target and everyone’s threat level is different. There’s a number of open source E2EE encrypted messaging apps though and lots of resources comparing their pros and cons. I can try to find you a link a bit later when I have more time if you’d like.
Simplex is probably the safest.
But I would say signal is very safe while being more convenient.