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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: 2) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday May 19 2020, @12:58PM (9 children)
What's wrong with obtaining a search warrant from a court and then ask Apple?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2020, @01:41PM
That is like asking a cake maker to give the FBI only the flour from the finished cake. The cake maker has no way to do that, and it would destroy the integrity of the cake.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday May 19 2020, @01:41PM (2 children)
Because then Moshe in the FBI won't be able to funnel FBI money to Moshe's brother Mordechai, who happens to own an Israeli company specializing in iPhone exploits. On an unrelated note, both Moshe and Mordechai have a cousin who works for Apple designing security architecture.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2020, @04:09PM (1 child)
Wow, you know the personal details of everyone! You must truly be a multicultural worldly traveler!
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday May 19 2020, @05:45PM
No, but these guys [techcrunch.com] are.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 19 2020, @02:10PM (1 child)
Who says they didn't or wouldn't?
So, the lesson for anyone who wants absolute privacy is do not use iCloud for your backups.
The narrative here is that Apple's security on their phones is so strong that Apple cannot crack it, no? Therefore they can't help. Therefore the government wants backdoors in the products by design. And Apple now has a lovely card to play: The government can still exploit phones, either by finesse or force. My guess is that they just kept throwing pin numbers at it modified by maybe having to ghost and restore the phone, or maybe he didn't have any kind of wipe options selected and they could just keep plugging away.
Anyway, it's not that Apple will not help, it's that they want a design by which they cannot help. Because that's what consumers want, and the government's interest in this would damage that.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday May 19 2020, @03:31PM
Got it, thanks.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 19 2020, @02:42PM (1 child)
Nothing is wrong with it. But a search warrant does not make the impossible become possible.
If Apple doesn't have the decryption key, then what can Apple do?
Oh, they could design their products to be insecure such that Apple has the key. Fine. But then don't say it is secure.
What Barr claims:
Companies can design products to be secure. But they magically become insecure somehow when a judge signs a piece of paper.
FACT: either it is secure, or it is not. There is no try.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday May 19 2020, @03:32PM
Got it, thank you too.
(Score: 1) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday May 19 2020, @04:41PM
Apple was not in possession of the phone or the data on the phone. That made it hard for the FBI to get a search warrant against them.
So, the FBI calls up Apple and says ¨Hey, we need someone who can break into an iPhone. Can we borrow the people who design the security on your iPhone? Blah, blah, blah, civic duty.¨
I can´t think of a better way to get an entire security team to quit simultaneously than to tell them to crack their own systems on behalf of a government bureaucracy.
The real story is that when Apple said no, the FBI started whining to anyone who will listen about how they are entitled to unlimited free assistance.