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Comment by prawn | Hacker News Reader

Fingerprint unlock allows 5 fingers on file. Maybe if you attempted an unlock with a different finger (pinky, say), it locked out that method until you'd used your passcode instead?

Similar to the idea of having a second PIN on your credit card that allows access but indicates acting-under-duress to the bank.

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Yeah, there are a lot of clever ways it could be done, but with completely closed platforms we are just at the mercy of our proprietarily coded overlords.

Can appreciate that, but I do think Apple are showing genuine signs of caring about users in this area.

The other ones the code is just there to take it, code review it and use any loopholes.

> Similar to the idea of having a second PIN on your credit card that allows access but indicates acting-under-duress to the bank.

Sounds like you are alluding to being able to use a reverse version of your PIN on an ATM when in duress?

It's a trope [0].

[0] http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp

    > It's a trope

If it's debuked on Snopes, it's an urban legend or a myth. Trope means something different.

Which is why I termed it an "idea".

When police departments seize electronics, like phones or computers, I thought it was standard for them to clone any hard drives so that they don't lose any data to similar techniques.

Is there a reason that they couldn't employ this countermeasure for your suggested security?

It is possible to secure devices in ways that even the correct passcode or fingerprint will only work with a specific chipset/decryption module. Some flash storage is also only readable after an unlock code has been transmitted.

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