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Despite cries of "responsible encryption", numerous law enforcement agencies are cracking into iPhones using a box called "GrayKey". Even the latest iPhones may be affected:
FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said that law enforcement agencies are "increasingly unable to access" evidence stored on encrypted devices. Wray is not telling the whole truth.
Police forces and federal agencies around the country have bought relatively cheap tools to unlock up-to-date iPhones and bypass their encryption, according to a Motherboard investigation based on several caches of internal agency documents, online records, and conversations with law enforcement officials. Many of the documents were obtained by Motherboard using public records requests.
[...] "It demonstrates that even state and local police do have access to this data in many situations," Matthew Green, an assistant professor and cryptographer at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, told Motherboard in a Twitter message. "This seems to contradict what the FBI is saying about their inability to access these phones."
As part of the investigation, Motherboard found:
- Regional police forces, such as the Maryland State Police and Indiana State Police, are procuring a technology called 'GrayKey' which can break into iPhones, including the iPhone X running the latest operating system iOS 11.
- Local police forces, including Miami-Dade County Police, have also indicated that they may have bought the equipment.
- Other forces, including the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, have seemingly not bought GrayKey, but have received quotations from the company selling the technology, called Grayshift.
- Emails show the Secret Service is planning to buy at least half a dozen GrayKey boxes to unlock iPhones.
- The State Department has already bought the technology, and the Drug Enforcement Administration is interested in doing so.
See also: FBI Refuses to Say Whether It Bought iPhone Unlocking Tech 'GrayKey'
Also at Engadget and AppleInsider.
Related: U.S. Legislators Trying to Weaken Encryption Yet Again
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 13 2018, @08:30PM (1 child)
The Five Eyes have more resources than any corporation, or even combination of corporations. More, the Five Eyes can enlist the aid of any number of corporations and/or individuals. Apple is incapable of creating an "unbreakable" encryption system. Give time and resources, and maybe a little insider information, the best that Apple can offer can be broken.
I suppose that if Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and a few dozen other of the largest tech corps were to join forces to thwart government surveillance - the Five Eyes might be beaten.
But, none of us can imagine all those corporations joining forces. Virtually all of them have aided and abetted the government in past cases. Apple may (or may not) be the strongest advocate for consumer rights to privacy among the corporations. But, the others have pretty unanimously betrayed the consumer to the Five Eyes already.
We're fooked, big time. If Apple fights, then Apple ultimately loses. If Apple doesn't fight, then we all lose. They might defeat GrayKey today, but there will be another weapon in the arms race next month, or next year.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday April 13 2018, @11:47PM
A race paid by the victims' money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford