FBI will not sue Apple to get information from terrorist’s iPhone
Bureau employees learned how to unlock iPhone on their own
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns
The situation with the FBI lawsuit against Apple, where the corporation was judicially obliged to help the agency extract the encrypted information from the terrorist’s phone, was resolved in unexpected ways. The agency asked a federal judge to cancel court hearings with Apple in the case of the “shooter from San Bernadino”. The reason is as follows : “On Sunday, March 20, 2016, a third party showed the FBI a possible way to unlock the iPhone Farouk [name of a terrorist, approx. Ed.] Verification is needed to determine the reliability of the method ... ". Such information is indicated in court documents.
Let me remind you that the FBI needs to extract the encrypted information from the phone of the terrorist who killed and injured dozens of people in San Bernardino. The iPhone 5c smartphone in question contains the encrypted information that the FBI needs to investigate the case. The FBI asked for help from Apple (while the corporation has already provided all the available data from its servers), wishing to have a software tool that eliminates the restriction of 10 password attempts to gain access to all smartphone functions. But Apple refused to help , arguing that the FBI, in fact, asked to create a backdoor for the company's own smartphones.
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The FBI asked the court to oblige the corporation to fulfill the agency's request, and the court ruled in favor of the state. Nevertheless, Apple decided to fight for the right not to help in this matter. All new participants were involved in the case, including corporations (some of which were supported by Apple, some - the government), lawyers, technologists, government services and agencies. The situation is described in detail here . Apple began to prepare for the consideration of the case in the US Supreme Court, and a number of developers of the company announced their intention to quit if the corporation did agree to help the FBI.
Hearings were scheduled for March 22. And literally the day before they began, the FBI asked the court to cancel everything. The judge granted the petition, Apple has not yet responded.
Who showed the FBI a possible method of unlocking the phone and how real this method is is still unknown. Perhaps it is about the work of researchers from Johns Hopkins University. University representatives say they managed to find a way to break the encryption system, which is used to protect the correspondence of iPhone users. If necessary, the hacker can intercept and decode user information, including both text and photo from video. The vulnerability was found in the iMessage message encryption algorithm, after which the encrypted information is sent to the Apple server. The attacker gets the ability to intercept the message and receives the decryption key, which, in turn, allows you to decrypt a copy of the data stored on iCloud.
If the FBI really got its own way of unlocking iPhones, then Apple’s help in this matter is no longer needed by the agency. In addition, Apple in this case no longer needs to be between the hammer (government requirement) and the anvil (customer opinion), so the conflict can gradually disappear. This benefits both the government and corporations. True, iPhone owners can now ask a reasonable question - is it now possible to hope for the protection of Apple smartphones, or personal data have become not so personal?
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns
The situation with the FBI lawsuit against Apple, where the corporation was judicially obliged to help the agency extract the encrypted information from the terrorist’s phone, was resolved in unexpected ways. The agency asked a federal judge to cancel court hearings with Apple in the case of the “shooter from San Bernadino”. The reason is as follows : “On Sunday, March 20, 2016, a third party showed the FBI a possible way to unlock the iPhone Farouk [name of a terrorist, approx. Ed.] Verification is needed to determine the reliability of the method ... ". Such information is indicated in court documents.
Let me remind you that the FBI needs to extract the encrypted information from the phone of the terrorist who killed and injured dozens of people in San Bernardino. The iPhone 5c smartphone in question contains the encrypted information that the FBI needs to investigate the case. The FBI asked for help from Apple (while the corporation has already provided all the available data from its servers), wishing to have a software tool that eliminates the restriction of 10 password attempts to gain access to all smartphone functions. But Apple refused to help , arguing that the FBI, in fact, asked to create a backdoor for the company's own smartphones.
')
The FBI asked the court to oblige the corporation to fulfill the agency's request, and the court ruled in favor of the state. Nevertheless, Apple decided to fight for the right not to help in this matter. All new participants were involved in the case, including corporations (some of which were supported by Apple, some - the government), lawyers, technologists, government services and agencies. The situation is described in detail here . Apple began to prepare for the consideration of the case in the US Supreme Court, and a number of developers of the company announced their intention to quit if the corporation did agree to help the FBI.
Hearings were scheduled for March 22. And literally the day before they began, the FBI asked the court to cancel everything. The judge granted the petition, Apple has not yet responded.
Who showed the FBI a possible method of unlocking the phone and how real this method is is still unknown. Perhaps it is about the work of researchers from Johns Hopkins University. University representatives say they managed to find a way to break the encryption system, which is used to protect the correspondence of iPhone users. If necessary, the hacker can intercept and decode user information, including both text and photo from video. The vulnerability was found in the iMessage message encryption algorithm, after which the encrypted information is sent to the Apple server. The attacker gets the ability to intercept the message and receives the decryption key, which, in turn, allows you to decrypt a copy of the data stored on iCloud.
If the FBI really got its own way of unlocking iPhones, then Apple’s help in this matter is no longer needed by the agency. In addition, Apple in this case no longer needs to be between the hammer (government requirement) and the anvil (customer opinion), so the conflict can gradually disappear. This benefits both the government and corporations. True, iPhone owners can now ask a reasonable question - is it now possible to hope for the protection of Apple smartphones, or personal data have become not so personal?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/391993/
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