Exploits, Tools & Data Recovery · Passcode Bypass & the Unlocking Industry · Lesson 5 of 5

Challenge: The Three Locked Phones

Sort out what's realistic for three locked phones arriving at a forensics lab.

The intake notes

You've just started as a junior analyst at a county digital forensics lab. Three locked phones arrive, each with a search warrant. Nobody knows any of the passcodes.

• Phone A: an iPhone 6s (A9 chip), last updated years ago. It was found switched off.
• Phone B: an iPhone 15 on current iOS. The owner last unlocked it five days ago, and it has been sitting on a charger ever since.
• Phone C: a Google Pixel 7, found switched off.

Your supervisor, Dana, is under pressure from a prosecutor who wants answers. She asks you to check some claims before she replies. The first comes from a colleague, who says Phone A is easy: "It has the checkm8 chip. Run it and we'll have the passcode and every message by lunch."

Phone B's state

The prosecutor has heard that phones are easier to examine if they've been unlocked since their last restart. He notes that Phone B's owner unlocked it, and that it was never switched off, so it should still be in its easier state.

Dana isn't so sure. She asks you what state Phone B is most likely in after five days on the charger without being unlocked.

The courtroom claim

The prosecutor suggests another route: "If our tools fail, we'll just get a court to order Apple to unlock Phone B. Apple lost that fight over the San Bernardino iPhone in 2016, so the law is settled."

Dana remembers the case made headlines for weeks, but she can't recall how it ended. She asks you to check his history before she repeats it to a judge or anyone else.

The leaked chart

Finally, the prosecutor forwards a news story about a leaked 2024 Cellebrite chart, which said Cellebrite couldn't brute force a switched-off Pixel 6, 7 or 8. He asks two things: whether that proves Phone C can never be examined, and what single factor matters most for whether any of the three phones can be.

Dana wants an answer that's honest and doesn't overpromise in either direction.