Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the counter-counter-countermeasures dept.

Trump, Barr, and the FBI do not need Apple to unlock a terrorist's iPhones:

Previously, Cellebrite relied on a brute force system. With its machine plugged into an iPhone's Lightning port, Cellebrite would override limits on passcode attempts and would then try every possible passcode combination until it hit on the right one. But Apple added a Restricted USB Mode with iOS 12 that prevents the Lighting port from connecting to another device if an iPhone has not been unlocked within the last hour. Cellebrite's updated software allows it to communicate with the chipset used on certain iPhone models, apparently regardless of the iOS version that the phone in question is running. This new technology could be very useful.

Neil Broom, who works with law enforcement to unlock phones, said, "This Cellebrite tool would let the government get a whole lot of information out of the phone, more than we've previously been able to extract.


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:50AM (7 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:50AM (#945182) Journal

    What they actually want, is for every corporation in the US, and ultimately the world, to jump to attention, waiting at the beck and call of law enforcement. Cops don't want to do cop-work, they want it all handed to them, on a silver platter, by compliant servants. Fuck 'em all, I say.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:02AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:02AM (#945187) Journal

      It is not really about cops catching criminals. While law enforcement would like to crack phones, that is just the public face patsy they put on it to get public support.
      Really they are after political and financial information and control.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:28AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:28AM (#945193)

      People are so much better behaved when they think they might be caught.

      • (Score: 4, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:07AM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:07AM (#945198) Journal

        As a rule, I'll agree with you. But, the shooters who make the news intend to be "caught" posthumously. Or, most of them, anyway. You've got to remember that not everyone is equally motivated by the same things.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:21AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:21AM (#945217)

        Or they just use other methods to achieve same goal.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:08AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:08AM (#945199)

      Fuck 'em all, I say.

      I'm not into the kink of fucking cops, sorry.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:33AM (1 child)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:33AM (#945219) Journal

        I've met a couple who turned me on. Little redhead in Kentucky, and a brunette in New York. And, can't forget the blonde in San Diego county, wearing a sheriff's badge, helpfully changing a flat tire for an elderly couple. I don't object to a little kink. It's the overall attitude of absolute authoritarianism that pisses me off most of the time.

        • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:55PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:55PM (#945369) Homepage

          I got bad news for you, cop types are into thugs. No, really. The reasoning behind why should be obvious.

  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:27AM

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:27AM (#945204) Journal

    Android is secure...

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:32AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:32AM (#945206) Journal

    Thanks, SoyCow1337. I forgot to submit this exact article.

    The cat and mouse game continues. And it's probably a good thing because it will drive Apple to harden the design until it's nearly unassailable. That could also kill jailbreaking, but if that's your concern, you should probably buy something else.

    The update to its UFED Physical Analyzer software uses a vulnerability called Checkm8 to access chipsets that power iPhones released from 2011 to 2017. That covers models ranging from the iPhone 5s to the iPhone X and could help the FBI unlock Alshamrani's iPhone 7 although it won't work on his iPhone 5.

    [...] Cellebrite rival Grayshift has reportedly been able to crack open an Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max using its GrayKey machine according to Forbes. The report states that in 2019, FBI investigators in Ohio employed a GrayKey to obtain data from the latest high-end iPhone model.

    That would make pretty much all iPhones vulnerable to something until iPhone 12 in late 2020.

    However, the president should tread lightly here; he certainly doesn't want to lose the "friendship" he has with the man he once called Tim Apple.

    Yeah right. Stick to phones, Alan Friedman.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:00AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:00AM (#945212)

    How difficult is it to crack these passcodes via brute force. These phone passcodes aren't exactly long and complicated or am I missing something?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:17AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @06:17AM (#945216)

      its in the summary "limits on passcode attempts".

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:25AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:25AM (#945249)

        Then an easy solution would be to have phone manufacturers reserve one secret code for law enforcement (say "0666"), and entering this code turns off passcode attempt limits. Then users can have the security of a passcode and law enforcement can have the ability to access criminal's data. Win-win.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:40PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @12:40PM (#945263)

          Security through obscurity is no security at all. How long do think it would take for criminals to find out the police passcode?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:00PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:00PM (#945333)

        I get that but the passcode (or hash for the passcode) is still on a chip that the authorities still have physical access to. Can't that hash be extracted from that chip, put on a faster computer, and cracked in seconds?

        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:52PM

          by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Sunday January 19 2020, @11:52PM (#945553) Homepage
          secure storage is typically inside the cpu, and typically hanging off a different bus (so you can't even use attacks like rowhammer). The operations that may be performed are also retricted, as there's a separate embedded CPU that acts as a gatekeeper.

          This is all from the marketting fluff - core designers don't evel let chip manufacturers know what really goes on. (I've worked for a chip manufacturer.)
          --
          Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by linkdude64 on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:26PM

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Sunday January 19 2020, @01:26PM (#945271)

    NSL would get them what they want. Apple is controlled opposition and making "privacy focused" individuals (the most likely to actually organize and protest) to put on their blinders and purchase completely closed-source apple products.

    Fuck Apple.

  • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:21PM (1 child)

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Sunday January 19 2020, @02:21PM (#945282)

    Simple solution, criminals should not use smartphones.

    ...

    In the future, only criminals don't own smart phones. Not owning and using a smart phone is a criminal offense.

    Shit. [Cops knocking on door]

    • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:55PM

      by jmichaelhudsondotnet (8122) on Sunday January 19 2020, @03:55PM (#945327) Journal

      Journalists, anyone that the current cultural hegemony does not like, including me.

      Criminal/terrorist expanded by about 10000% around 2012.

      This is my life. This is not a drill. It is not fun. It is not a matter of fashion whether or not to use these products, it is one of safety both physical and mental.

      https://archive.is/f4TVo [archive.is]

      Yes, that means this entire demonstration with the iphone is already a farce.

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:05PM (1 child)

    by jmichaelhudsondotnet (8122) on Sunday January 19 2020, @04:05PM (#945335) Journal

    Cellebrite's updated software allows it to communicate with the chipset used on certain iPhone models, apparently regardless of the iOS version that the phone in question is running. This new technology could be very useful.

    hm who is cellebrite...click click click...."Cellebrite is headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel." You can't make this stuff up. How many trustworthy jewish characters is hasbarah going to have to get on netflix shows to erase this from our memory?

    Did I even have to look at this point? So the intel processor is made in israel, iphone is designed in israel, and the only company that knows how to trick the processor into unlocking the phone over a lightning/usb port is in israel? Did I get that right?

    Israeli and security are not compatible terms, neither is privacy. Unsecurity is at this point the israeli brand, which I have been saying.

    https://archive.is/7YNX0 [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/f4TVo [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/Eu1Z4 [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/f4TVo [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/SiNIS [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/HTALt [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/EoIML [archive.is]
    https://archive.is/ET5w1 [archive.is]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @02:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @02:55AM (#945627)

      Something about broken clocks..

(1)