14 DAY TRIAL // An iPhone feature available for all Apple customers has proved to be a double-edged sword, as a 24-year-old woman involved in a criminal investigation remotely wiped the data on her phone considered to be evidence in the case.
Juelle L. Grant of Willow Avenue is accused of being the driver of a vehicle used in a drive-by shooting on Van Vranken Avenue on October 23.
Grant is believed to have helped the shooter run away from the scene and get rid of the gun that was used in the crime.
As part of the investigation, the police seized an iPhone X which was believed to store evidence in the case. But according to police documents cited by The Daily Gazette, Grant remotely wiped the device, deleting all the data that may have incriminated the two suspects.
Police didn’t block remote connections
The remote control feature allows iPhone users to connect to their devices in case they are lost or stolen and then locate the phone or delete the data stored on it. In this case, police officers failed to take any measures that would have blocked the remote access, like turning off the device, blocking the Internet connection, or simply putting the device into a Faraday bag, as the cited source notes.
Faraday bags are being used to block network connections to seized devices, but police officers in charge with the case said they do not know if such tools are available.
Smartphones have been a particular headache for authorities worldwide, especially given their strong encryption, as police investigators weren’t able to access data stored on devices believed to store incriminatory evidence on suspects.
Apple itself has been hard at work to further secure iPhones with new technology that would also block brute-force attacks, and the latest iOS update is believed to address a vulnerability that was exploited by hacking boxes used by authorities across the world, including US law enforcement.