[surround]

> in sensitive situations, law enforcement and border agents in many countries can compel a biometric unlock in ways they cannot with a password.

If the threat model includes state-level actors, then disabling biometrics won't prevent data from being retrieved from physical memory. It would probably be wiser to enable disk encryption and have a panic button that powers down/hibernates the computer so that no unencrypted data remains on RAM.

The website says shutdown "takes time" and "kills your session" but a hibernation button would take effect just as fast and would preserve the session.

[LoganDark]

Apple Silicon is at least much more difficult to attack in this way, though it might be possible.

[jovial_cavalier]

a cop works for "the state," but he's definitely not a "state-level actor."

[surround]

How do you define "state-level actor?" Police departments certainly have access to state and federal forensic resources to access unencrypted data in memory.

[stackghost]

In the context of breaking into phones and laptops, "state-level actor" usually implies a team of people with NSA-type forensic capabilities. That is, they have deep expertise in infosec and related topics, access to 0days that the security apparatus has hoarded and kept secret for their own use, and they may have bespoke hardware to facilitate attacking the device.

A random cop might have access to a Cellebrite machine but they can't just call up the NSA and ask them to break into some drug dealer's macbook.

[surround]

Fair enough. Though they certainly could still break in if the laptop isn't encrypted, so this tool is only useful when combined with disk encryption.