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from the however-could-they-do-investigations-before-cell-phones? dept.
The FBI Successfully Broke into a Gunman's iPhone, but Still Angry at Apple:
After months of trying, the FBI successfully broke into iPhones belonging to the gunman responsible for a deadly shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station in December 2019, and it now claims he had associations with terrorist organization al-Qaeda. Investigators managed to do so without Apple's help, but Attorney General William Barr and FBI director Christopher Wray both voiced strong frustration with the iPhone maker at a press conference on Monday morning.
Both officials say that encryption on the gunman's devices severely hampered the investigation. "Thanks to the great work of the FBI — and no thanks to Apple — we were able to unlock Alshamrani's phones," said Barr, who lamented the months and "large sums of tax-payer dollars" it took to get into devices of Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who killed three US sailors and injured eight other people on December 6th.
Apple has said it provided investigators with iCloud data it had available for Alshamrani's account and other technical assistance, though it wasn't enough to bypass the encryption of Alshamrani's iPhones. So authorities spent many weeks trying to break in on their own.
[...] Throughout the recent debates on encryption policy, Apple has insisted that it's impossible to create a "backdoor" in the way that Barr describes since any such tool could fall into the wrong hands and dismantle the security of iPhones globally. The company has regularly handed over iCloud backup data where available, and according to a Reuters report from earlier this year, Apple abandoned plans to fully encrypt those backups due to FBI complaints. But it has steadfastly refused to compromise the local storage of iPhones. "Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data," CEO Tim Cook said in 2016.
[...] Attorney General Barr hasn't been swayed by Apple's arguments. "We are confident that technology companies are capable of building secure products that protect user information," he said today, "and at the same time, allow for law enforcement access when permitted by a judge — as Apple had done willingly for many years and others are still doing today."
[...] Apple responded to Barr and Wray on Monday afternoon. The company reiterated that there's "no such thing as a backdoor only for the good guys" and said "the American people do not have to choose between weakening encryption and effective investigations."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DaTrueDave on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:40PM (2 children)
“Thanks to the great work of the FBI — and no thanks to Apple — we were able to unlock Alshamrani’s phones,” said Barr.
This is exactly what Apple wants the FBI to say. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to find out in a few years that there actually was an Apple backdoor or that Apple otherwise assisted ON THE CONDITION that the FBI publicly stated that Apple didn't assist.
I've got to say, the position on privacy has made me consider switching back from Android to iOS.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday May 19 2020, @01:09PM
But then you have:
Zerodium Temporarily Stops Buying iOS Exploits Because there are Too Many [soylentnews.org]
Not that Android is necessarily better, since it has plenty of vulnerabilities and is a bigger target.
Get a flip phone.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2020, @07:59PM
The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution was put in place because governments tend to get angry when citizens' privacy gets in the way.