# Incidents of devices search at border

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/incidents-of-devices-search-at-border/19718
**Category:** General
**Created:** 2024-07-28T14:42:05Z
**Posts:** 1

## Post 1 by @jerm — 2024-07-28T14:42:05Z

> [@Security researcher phone and laptop were searched by US CBP for 3 hours](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/security-researcher-phone-and-laptop-were-searched-by-us-cbp-for-3-hours/19493):
>
> [https://xcancel.com/DefuseSec/status/1812363732670189743#m](https://xcancel.com/DefuseSec/status/1812363732670189743#m) My phone and laptop were searched for 3 hours by US CBP at a land border crossing. I tried to refuse and return to Canada but I was not allowed to. If anyone has any advice on forensic analysis I can do to my own device to see what they did I would be grateful for it. I was heavily pressured to divulge passwords (“you can write down your password and we can do this the easy way or we can do it the long and hard way”) which I did and …

> **[Australian man says border force made him hand over phone passcode by...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/14/australian-man-says-border-force-made-him-hand-over-phone-passcode-by-threatening-to-keep-device-indefinitely)**
>
> Tech entrepreneur who lives in the US says he has been held up at Sydney airport for hours three times in the past year

Moxie (creator of Signal Messenger)

> **[Another Hacker’s Laptop, Cellphones Searched at Border | Threat Level | WIRED](https://web.archive.org/web/20140331125755/https://www.wired.com/2010/11/hacker-border-search/)**
>
> Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and culture at Wired.com.

It seems that their reason will always be “he was selected randomly”.

If you guys know of other incidents like that, please share. It would be also great if PrivacyGuides added some recommendations on what to do before and after being at border on this page [Common Threats - Privacy Guides](https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/common-threats/) or a separate page.

@dngray @jonah