Trump Attacks Apple

[Big RR]

Meade--perhaps, but then I would think they may have to use the software for these again and again; right now they can say the cannot do this sort of hack and are not in a position to develop the software the government has asked for/ordered.

[MajGenl.Meade]

TKU

[Jarlaxle]

the guy from McAfee says he can crack the code in three weeks without creating a backdoor.

Then Apple should throw down the gauntlet: offer him $10,000,000 if he can prove it!

[Jarlaxle]

5 clicks on my iPhone to 'erase all data and restore factory settings'; probably a couple more clicks to assure the phone of user intent and *poof* - all gone!

I stand with Apple on the privacy protections, especially since the guy and his coconspirator are dead. It's not worth the potential mass privacy violations - and that's EXACTLY why they want the software most of all.

Of course. They don't actually want this phone...they want the precedent! They want the foot in the door.

[Econoline]

the guy from McAfee says he can crack the code in three weeks without creating a backdoor.

Then Apple should throw down the gauntlet: offer him $10,000,000 if he can prove it!

It's the US government who wants the data...shouldn't they put up the cash? Oh yeah, they don't really want the data, they want the backdoor.

I stand with Apple on the privacy protections, especially since the guy and his coconspirator are dead. It's not worth the potential mass privacy violations - and that's EXACTLY why they want the software most of all.

Of course. They don't actually want this phone...they want the precedent! They want the foot in the door.

Yes.

Also, too: To those who think Apple should give in and develop the software the government wants: are you also okay with the Russian, Chinese, North Korean, Israeli, Saudi, and/or Pakistani governments getting it? How about Edward Snowden (or one of his colleagues)? Julian Assange?

Or how about this guy?

[datsunaholic]

Please note. This phone was in the possession of the local sheriff department before the feds got their hands on it. Some hack (hack as a noun once used to mean a lazy worker who performed badly) in that office CHANGED the password on this phone before the FBI got it, and nobody knows what the new password is.

That's not what happened. The password on the phone wasn't changed. The password on the user's iCloud account was RESET (and no one knew the original password) which meant that the phone couldn't self-backup to the iCloud account, which would have made retrieving the information easier because it wouldn't have required cracking the phone's password at all. But, there is indication that the phone's auto-backup feature had been turned off weeks prior to the shooting anyway.


Other things:

Mcafee's statement that he could crack the code via social engineering? Pretty damn hard to do since the owner of said phone is dead. Social engineering works with PEOPLE, not technology- it's how scammers get your personal information, not by brute force hacking the data. But pretty much everything else McAfee said about creating a backdoor hack is true- it's a dangerous precedent.


Why the US Gov't can't hack the encryption:

The only way to break modern encryption when the user actually used a good, secure password is brute force. And even with a supercomputer doing the work, it would take billions of password attempts. With the phone's self-bricking capability that's not possible. Lab techs cracking laptops with encrypted hard drives is pure Hollywood. It isn't that easy.

So what the government wants is a way to either turn off the self-destruct mechanism (which right now is STILL impossible, because to force the phone to update its software, you'd need the password...) or a way to unload the data even if it IS still encrypted. Also impossible, since the phone won't data dump without the password. That's why having the iCloud password get reset was a bad thing- IF the phone was set to auto-backup, it first needed to login to the iCloud service. With a stored password. A password that's now wrong, with no way to change it since the phone is locked.

[oldr_n_wsr]

There should be a "down and dirty" way to get the info. Only power up those ic's that store the data and manually read the ic. There is probably some basic i/o on the chip, talk to that directly bypassing all the "higher level" programming.
Breadboard hacking might still have a use.

[Scooter]

[Burning Petard]

OK, let me ask it another way. Another poster said" The thing the government wants from Apple isn't to crack the code, but to write software"

Software that does not exist now. Just how does the federal government force a corporation or an individual to produce a product that neither they nor anyone else has made? For example, Mr. Raytheon, it is very important to our national security that the USofA be able to kill bad guys making IED's. Build a missile with a guidance system that will detect and read the brainwaves of bad guys building these bombs and then target them.

This is a matter of national security. Do it or you go to jail for contempt of court and violating Homeland Security regs. My scenario has just as much logic and common sense as the justification for torture because a hypothetical person has knowledge of a hypothetical bomb that is about to go off.

This software the feds are demanding of Apple IS hypothetical. As of now it does not exist. Just what power does the Justice Department have to force this research and development project by judicial decree?

Snail gate

[Joe Guy]

I'm sure there will be better articles on the subject, but for now....

NY judge: US cannot make Apple provide iPhone data
Updated 2:25 pm, Monday, February 29, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge says the U.S. Justice Department cannot force Apple to provide the FBI with access to locked iPhone data in a routine Brooklyn drug case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled Monday. The decision follows a California magistrate judge's order requiring Apple to create software to help the U.S. hack the iPhone of a shooter in the Dec. 2 killing of 14 people in San Bernardino, California.

In October, Orenstein invited Apple to challenge the government's use of a 1789 law to compel Apple to help it recover iPhone data in criminal cases. Since then, lawyers say Apple has opposed the requests to help extract information from over a dozen iPhones in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York.

source