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Comment by xnx | Hacker News Reader

These are good features, but I don't know if they help much against the "$5 wrench" vulnerability: https://xkcd.com/538/

There have been multiple thefts in Chicago where "Police said the gunmen forced one of the victims to reset his phone password while threatening him with a pistol. They made another victim log into their banking apps." (https://cwbchicago.com/2024/05/chicago-bucktown-robbery-spre...)

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Hence why you should not have banking/brokerage apps on your phone (or their passwords in your iOS keychain), except maybe a checking account with a couple thousand dollars in it.

You can have, just tucked away in some folder.

Uh, you know there's an app search on iOS right?

In Australia, transfers out of an account are limited to a certain amount ($2000 typically) unless you've pre arranged it with the bank. Also transfers to new accounts have some extra protections. I'd be surprised if this wasn't common practice globally

I can do transfers of at least $250k from my phone.

Not true. You can set a number of accounts to up this in the bank app, with nothing more than a sms code to protect you. $100k no issues. And never seen a $2k limit, maybe a $5k limit.

WTF. This sounds like the next level

That sounds terrifying... what's wrong with people?

This must be R-- I mean totally some example of a site that HN will never become, getting downvoted for an actual question.

Against the 5$ vulnerability, if you are that important, go for a gun permit and train on pigs so in a real life situation you wouldn't freeze.

No, random people should not try to get into gun battles to protect their phone. If you're that worried about the rare chance of being forced to unlock your phone by criminals you can limit which financial apps you have on the phone.

Despite some popular fantasies, buying a handgun and shooting some targets (or live pigs?!?!) does not turn one into an action hero. That kind of escalation is likely to get the phone owner or another innocent person killed. It's a stupid risk, especially given that there are much better ways to protect your phone data.

What if the pigs decide to apply that same logic?

Not cops, no metaphors here. Some security companies make the trainee shoot a pig in the head. Lots of people, no matter the training, just can't kill a living being.

I wasn't going the police = pigs angle, I was trying to be more absurdist regarding the potential uprising of animal-kind, particularly those that may have been killed, not for food or self defense, but for 'practice shooting of a living thing'.

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