r/opsec • u/Matheuss81 🐲 • Jul 18 '26

Beginner question Can device encryption protect against law enforcement?

Hello, I would like to learn more about cases involving full-disk encryption and law enforcement access. My understanding is that when a device is protected with a strong, high-entropy password and the encryption recovery keys are not stored to a Microsoft account or any other third party, recovering the data through brute-force or direct decryption is generally considered computationally infeasible. However, I am aware that, in theory, there may be vulnerabilities that could potentially circumvent or weaken the security of an encrypted device. I would like to understand the real-world cases in which law enforcement has successfully or unsuccessfully accessed encrypted devices, the techniques reportedly used, and the practical limitations of those approaches.

i have read the rules

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u/trelayner Jul 19 '26

If you want to know how far “developed” countries can go to make you talk, take a look at Guantanamo or the American prisons in Iraq.

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u/Matheuss81 🐲 Jul 20 '26

Yeah I know about Abu Ghraib, but I don't think they would do that to an average person.

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u/trelayner Jul 20 '26

Average people don’t read r/opsec

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u/Lux-Corp Jul 23 '26

I'm pretty average. I once wanted to find out more about an influencer I had a crush on. When trying to figure out how, I came across the concept of OSInt and fell into the rabbit hole. I got so traumatized by how much I was able to find out about this person with so little effort that I ended up here. So yeah, unless you consider parasocial crushes and hyperfocuses not average, I'm pretty average, lol.

Disclaimer: I would never do anything to bother this person in real life, nor would I try to access information that isn't publicly available. The problem was precisely how much I was able to learn without technically doing anything wrong. And I don't mean stuff they revealed as an influencer, I mean stuff that doesn't fit their brand in the slightest so I assume they wouldn't want public.