Indicted Eric Adams told FBI he forgot his iPhone's new passcode

Posted:
in iPhone

All of us should use iPhone passcodes and any of us can forget them, but few of us are New York City mayors being indicted for corruption and claiming to have changed the code to help investigators.

iPhone passcode
iPhone passcode



Following news of his indictment in September 2024, more details have emerged of how investigators seized the Apple devices owned by Mayor Adams in November 2023. The full court filing shows that while two of his cellphones were seized then, they did not include his personal iPhone.

"When Adams produced his personal cellphone the next day in response to a subpoena," says the filing, "it was 'locked,' such that the device required a password to open."

Adams admitted that once he knew about the investigation into his alleged corruption, he chose to change the iPhone passcode. In order to "prevent members of his staff inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone," he changed the code and increased it from a four-digit to a six-digit one.

Sure.

Anyway, he says he did this passcode change specifically because he "wished to preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation." But, wouldn't you know it, he "had forgotten the password [sic] he had just set."

The filing solely recounts the sequence of events and Adams's explanation, it does not include any commentary from the FBI. However, as first noted by Ars Technica, the filing features the account in a section headed "Adams and His Co-Conspirators Attempt to Conceal Their Criminal Conduct."

It gets worse



In this same section, a woman identified only as an "Adams Staffer," agreed to speak to the FBI, but then took a bathroom break. While there, the staffer "deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate with Adams" during the alleged corruption incidents.

The filing is very light on details, including known which "encrypted messaging applications" were allegedly involved. However, the contents of third-party messaging apps would not be included in iCloud.

Apple will not unlock iPhones and has refused to add backdoors to allow law enforcement access. It will provide authorities with access to data on iCloud, but that data is encrypted and Apple does not have the ability to read it.

What happens next



Those corruption incidents and the federal charges center on bribery, wire fraud, and receiving illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams is accused of soliciting and accepting gifts in exchange for political favors, particularly from Turkey.

This is the first ever federal indictment for a sitting New York mayor. Adams denies the charges, and is next due in court over the case on October 2, 2024.

It's not known which iPhone Adams had, or what version of iOS it was running. While law enforcement has long had the ability to unlock iPhones despite a lack of cooperation by Apple, they have reportedly not been able to hack models using iOS 17.4 or later.



Read on AppleInsider

dewme

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    ronnronn Posts: 679member
    What a maroon!  :#
    ssfe119secondkox2
  • Reply 2 of 19
    But If law enforcement were to obtain a court order and subpoena his iCloud account, if Mr. Adam enabled "Messages in the Cloud," they could potentially get a non-encrypted copy of his messages if Mr. Adams was running an iCloud backup, which most people do.

    If you have iCloud Backup enabled, Apple has a copy of the encryption key for your Messages in iCloud. This key allows Apple to decrypt your messages and provide them to law enforcement if required by a valid legal process.

    We shall see how this plays out.
    edited September 30 Oferraphoroni
  • Reply 3 of 19
    TomETomE Posts: 173member
    "Scared" might work for Mr Adams.
    Gee Whiz: "I have no recollecton of that event at this time."

  • Reply 4 of 19
    | But, wouldn't you know it, he "had forgotten the password [sic] he had just set."

    The government has a habit of losing/wiping/hiding data, so clearly this is also accidental.
    ssfe11beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 5 of 19
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,734member
    I once changed the passcode on my ATM that I use barely every two months.   Forgot it.   Went back to the old one when I got the new card.   This was four effin' digits.

    But even with FaceID, the phone requests the passcode often enough that if you don't know it, you'd be locked out of your phone pretty quickly.
    MrBunside
  • Reply 6 of 19
    He suddenly forgot his passcode..lol!!! You can’t make this stuff up 
    dewmeCluntBaby92
  • Reply 7 of 19
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,226member
    ssfe11 said:
    He suddenly forgot his passcode..lol!!! You can’t make this stuff up 
    I'm guessing Adams isn't lying, that he got word that his phone was about to be confiscated, so he quickly changed the passcode to some long random string.
    williamlondondewme
  • Reply 8 of 19
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,006member
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?
  • Reply 9 of 19
    What else would he say? hehehe
  • Reply 10 of 19
    MplsP said:
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?
    The government cannot compel anybody to do anything.  You choose to comply, or not.
  • Reply 11 of 19
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,006member
    MplsP said:
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?
    The government cannot compel anybody to do anything.  You choose to comply, or not.
    Do you have an actual answer? Or are you limited to semantics?
  • Reply 12 of 19
    He would know the best tricks since he is ex-police, but "I forgot" - is that the best, really?
  • Reply 13 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,823member
    Is it a PIN or alphanumerics? I know the FBI has tools to crack PINs with relative ease. alphanumerics with special characters... perhaps not.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,823member
    Also, does anyone here actually think he's innocent?
    CluntBaby92williamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 19
    MplsP said:
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?

    SCOTUS has already ruled in some case or another about this.  A suspect cannot be compelled to reveal their passcode.  It falls under the 5th's "right to silence" interpretation.

    The same cannot yet be said for FaceID or TouchID.  Some courts have said no, some have said yes.

    Number one reason to use a long passcode instead of FaceID to lock my phone.
    williamlondonnetrox
  • Reply 16 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,823member
    MplsP said:
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?

    SCOTUS has already ruled in some case or another about this.  A suspect cannot be compelled to reveal their passcode.  It falls under the 5th's "right to silence" interpretation.

    The same cannot yet be said for FaceID or TouchID.  Some courts have said no, some have said yes.

    Number one reason to use a long passcode instead of FaceID to lock my phone.
    For security and ease pick use a larger character base rather than simply make it long.
    beowulfschmidt
  • Reply 17 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,823member
    MplsP said:
    MplsP said:
    Even if he isn’t lying, can the government compel a suspect to unlock their phone? Clearly they could compel a staffer to do so but would compelling Adams to do so violate the right not to self incriminate?
    The government cannot compel anybody to do anything.  You choose to comply, or not.
    Do you have an actual answer? Or are you limited to semantics?
    If it's not just semantics. You will be in contempt of court for not complying, but it's clear they aren't going to put you under some soft trance that will have you give up your passcode against your will.
    OctoMonkey
  • Reply 18 of 19
    What an absolute fucking scumbag. I hope his ass goes to jail for the rest of his sad life. 
    williamlondonkdupuis77
  • Reply 19 of 19
    Sounds like politician excuses when caught w their hands in a cookie jar 
    kdupuis77
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