Accessing Adams’ locked cell phone will be ‘monumentally difficult’ for feds: experts

Cracking into Mayor Eric Adams’ encrypted cell phone is going to be an uphill battle for federal authorities, experts told The Post.

Hizzoner changed his cell phone password just one day before the FBI seized his electronic devices on Nov. 7 — claiming he did so in order to “preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation.” He says he then forgot the new passcode, which left the phone locked, according to the bombshell federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

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At a minimum, the locked phone introduces a “speed bump” in the feds’ investigation, according to Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and John Jay adjunct professor.

“I think tech savvy investigators would still be able to get into the phone anyway . . . But it will slow down the investigation,” Alcazar said.

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A federal judge would have to sign off on a search warrant before federal IT guys could try to crack into the locked device — and it’s unclear whether they’d be able to pull it off, said Jefferey Greco, a Manhattan-based criminal defense attorney.

In 2016, Apple and the FBI went head-to-head over whether the tech company should have to provide back door access to users’ devices when the feds deemed it necessary for their investigations, but the case was dropped when prosecutors said the feds may have found another way into encrypted iPhones.

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Following a 2019 shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, federal authorities were able to access the encrypted iPhone of the shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, without Apple’s help — but did not disclose their methods.

Historically, law enforcements’ efforts to get tech companies to cooperate in investigations by unlocking encrypted devices have been proven “monumentally difficult,” said Greco.

“Apple will say, ‘That’s between you and the user. We’re not getting involved. We protect our users’ right to privacy.’

“If [Adams’] phone is where the treasure trove of evidence is contained, and [investigators] can’t get into it, that might be the one thing that saves him from going to prison,” Greco warned.

This month, FBI agents seized the phones of former police commissioner Edward Caban, Department of Education Chancellor David Banks and Adams’ Chief of Staff, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. On Thursday morning, the feds gathered yet another one of Adams’ phones during a raid of Gracie Mansion.

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