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posted by takyon on Monday October 23 2017, @10:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the world's-tiniest-violin-ringtone dept.

FBI failed to access 7,000 encrypted mobile devices

Agents at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been unable to extract data from nearly 7,000 mobile devices they have tried to access, the agency's director has said.

Christopher Wray said encryption on devices was "a huge, huge problem" for FBI investigations. The agency had failed to access more than half of the devices it targeted in an 11-month period, he said.

One cyber-security expert said such encryption was now a "fact of life". Many smartphones encrypt their contents when locked, as standard - a security feature that often prevents even the phones' manufacturers from accessing data. Such encryption is different to end-to-end encryption, which prevents interception of communications on a large scale.

Cyber-security expert Prof Alan Woodward at the University of Surrey said device encryption was clearly frustrating criminal investigations but it would be impractical and insecure to develop "back doors" or weakened security.

In a time when the government is committing criminal acts, is it not advisable for citizens to do what they can to protect themselves from that crime?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by meustrus on Tuesday October 24 2017, @05:00PM (1 child)

    by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday October 24 2017, @05:00PM (#586938)

    In a time when the government is committing criminal acts, is it not advisable for citizens to do what they can to protect themselves from that crime?

    Sure, but doesn't this belong in a comment? With it in the summary, comments are less likely to respond to this statement directly, which means the statement itself is a skewed version of the real commentary happening here.

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:35PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:35PM (#587045) Journal

    Maybe. But then, I'm only half-Vulcan, dammit!

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    Washington DC delenda est.