Question 1

Can you just crack the password on a locked phone?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, and often not: weak passwords and older devices may yield, but a modern phone with a strong passcode has sound encryption that brute force will not open in any useful time (§3). The honest assessment comes first, so effort is not wasted. And frequently it is unnecessary: the data may sit in an unlocked backup or a synced copy the lock does not guard (§6, Example 1).

Question 2

Can a civil court make someone hand over their password?

Accepted Answer

Yes: a party's disclosure obligation can require them to provide the passwords and keys needed to access relevant material within their control, and the court backs this with unless orders (comply or be struck out) and adverse inferences (§4). Access is usually ordered on terms that an independent examiner opens the device and discloses only the relevant material, which protects privilege and privacy and makes compliance acceptable (Example 2).

Question 3

Is there a law that forces someone to decrypt data?

Accepted Answer

In the criminal and investigatory context, yes: Part III of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 lets the authorities serve a notice compelling a key or the intelligible form of protected information, and failure to comply is itself an offence (§5). But it is a tool for the authorities on statutory conditions, not for private civil litigants, who use the disclosure-order routes of §4 instead.

Question 4

Can we just try to guess the password or get into the account ourselves?

Accepted Answer

No: unauthorised access to a device or account is a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (§7), and self-help access poisons the evidence and exposes whoever attempts it. Use the lawful route: the recovery key the or g an is at i on holds, the accessible backup, or a court order compelling the key. However tempting the shortcut, it is a crime and it ruins the case.

Question 5

The device is locked and encryption is unbreakable. Is the case lost?

Accepted Answer

Rarely: the lock guards the device, not usually the data (§6). Cloud backups, synced copies on other devices, organisational recovery keys, server-side mailbox and SaaS data, and counterparts' copies frequently hold the same material unlocked (Example 1, Example 3). Map the estate first; the locked device is often needed only for deleted or local-only residue, and even a refused key becomes adverse-inference evidence (§7).

Question 6

The employee returned a locked company laptop. What now?

Accepted Answer

Check for the recovery key before anything else (§3, §6): managed corporate devices are almost always encrypted through a platform that holds a recovery key, so the employer can open its own device without compelling the former employee at all (Example 3, guide 118). If it is genuinely unmanaged, then the estate reach- around and, if needed, a disclosure order follow. But in most corporate cases the "locked" device is open with a key you already hold. cflab. u k · e-disc ove r y. u k ©2026 Computer Forensics Lab Ltd ·cflab.uk ·e-discovery.uk ·info@cflab.uk ·+44 (0)20 7164 6915 Page 15 of 18

Collecting Without The Password