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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?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday October 23 2017, @10:18PM (7 children)
Security isn't security, if only the "good guys" have the keys to the kingdom. The bad guys would get them about a second after the good guys have them. Plus, who's to say the "good guys" are good?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Monday October 23 2017, @11:09PM (1 child)
> who's to say the "good guys" are good?
That's easy: They write songs about being good, make movies about being good and Bad Guys losing, write articles and novels about being good, and make their children recite poems about being good.
Obviously, only good people would go through all that trouble.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:16PM
Here's a song about the Dear Leader [youtube.com]. Enjoy!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday October 24 2017, @02:05AM (3 children)
Speaking of "bad guys"...
So by rough calcs the FBI seized somewhere north of 14000 phones and tried to crack them.
Are there 14000 kidnappings where a child's life is on the line?
Has the FBI really arrested 14000 people for interstate drugs or human trafficking in 11 months?
That's a huge number.
It looks like they are going after phone for even little crimes the FBI would be involved in rather than just the big ones.
Or maybe they are doing it as a service to every tin star sheriff.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 24 2017, @02:43AM (2 children)
I think, basically, the FBI wants your phone to incriminate you for SOMETHING, ANYTHING, so that they don't have to do real investigative work. Investigating can be hard, you know? If they can just grab some device with which you record alll of the intimate parts of your life, they can find SOMETHING with which to threaten you. If you were an agent, why would you prefer to *work* for a conviction, if instead, you can just get a person's detailed journal/diary containing incriminating evidence? But, worse than a mere journal, the damned device keeps detailed logs. You connected to a site once, and so did Al Jazawi Howie - guilt by association. The phone and the telco never forget which sites you connected to, of course. It doesn't matter that you did a search, that random site came up, you clicked, and the material was entirely irrelevant to your purposes. The fact is, you've used the same site that Howie did, so you're a terrorist.
Yeah, we all want backdoors into our devices. Being patriotic citizens, none of us wants an FBI agent to actually WORK for a conviction. We need to make those agent's lives as easy as possible!
ICE is having a Pretti Good season.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Whoever on Tuesday October 24 2017, @03:11AM
Disputed, but still:
"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:29PM
exactly. these pigs are looking for leverage and/or planting evidence. they are lazy, kid killing scum. fuck them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 24 2017, @06:51PM
The Good Guys [wikipedia.org] are long gone. The bad guys [soylentnews.org] are still around.