Posted on 02/17/2016 9:04:36 PM PST by TigerClaws
A 2015 court case shows that the tech giant has been willing to play ball with the government before—and is only stopping now because it might ‘tarnish the Apple brand.’
Apple CEO Tim Cook declared on Wednesday that his company wouldn’t comply with a government search warrant to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers, a significant escalation in a long-running debate between technology companies and the government over access to people’s electronically-stored private information.
But in a similar case in New York last year, Apple acknowledged that it could extract such data if it wanted to. And according to prosecutors in that case, Apple has unlocked phones for authorities at least 70 times since 2008. (Apple doesn’t dispute this figure.)
In other words, Apple’s stance in the San Bernardino case may not be quite the principled defense that Cook claims it is. In fact, it may have as much to do with public relations as it does with warding off what Cook called “an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers.â€
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Well it isn't, but that is not what he is alleging. He is alleging that the sky will fall and the Fascists will Jackboot us all the way to the concentration camps if Apple complies with a court order.
You have substituted your premise for the original one. That's slightly dishonest, and you should not do that.
Addressing your premise, which is that it doesn't exist, by which you are implying that it is some great difficulty in creating this thing which doesn't exist, but which is in fact what Apple does routinely.
Do you even grasp the problem here? THERE IS NO KEY.
Do *YOU* grasp the problem here? A Lock Smith can MAKE a key. You know, like one that DOESN'T CURRENTLY EXIST! Then it would exist! Then there would be a Key!
You think software grows on trees? People MAKE it.
Yeah. And it would take the Apple team about 15 minutes to do what they FBI has asked, and what a Judge has now ORDERED them to do.
It also wouldn't be worth a billion dollars.
Addressing your premise, which is that it doesn't exist, by which you are implying that it is some great difficulty in creating this thing which doesn't exist, but which is in fact what Apple does routinely.
Do *YOU* grasp the problem here? A Lock Smith can MAKE a key. You know, like one that DOESN'T CURRENTLY EXIST! Then it would exist! Then there would be a Key!
...it would take the Apple team about 15 minutes to do what they FBI has asked, and what a Judge has now ORDERED them to do.
It also wouldn't be worth a billion dollars.
"Locks" and "keys" are METAPHORS for mathematical encryption equations. If all they had to do was find a "locksmith," the government could do it on their own. Apple is NOT being asked to make a "key" - THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT KEY. They are being asked to make a "replacement lock." And then SUBSTITUTE that lock for the "locked lock" so that the original, mathematically hidden key, can unlock it. That is a HUGE undertaking! "15 minutes" only displays your MASSIVE ignorance of this issue. And as for the value, yeah, creating a gigantic replacement OS that could be swapped for any locked iPhone in the world to crack it WOULD be worth a billion dollars, if not MUCH more. Not to mention the legal precedent would be horrendous.
Watch who you call dishonest. It's dishonest to wade into a discussion without knowing what the hell you're talking about, too - especially when you're arguing for the permanent enlargement of totalitarian governmental power and the obliteration of personal security.
Well, PIF, he's right that you CAN copy the raw data off the iPhone's SSD memory. But that doesn't do much good for anyone if that iPhone is running iOS 8 or later. Especially if the iPhone is an iPhone 5s, 6, 6plus, 6S or 6S plus. If the user has locked the iOS device with even the basic four digit passcode, that data will be encrypted with a 256 bit AES encryption with a KEY of at least 132 characters in length which is extremely complex.
The key to the encryption is created the first time by combining those 132 characters of the with a random number generated by combining data from the microphone, accelerometer, camera, GPS, and other sensors of the iPhone during the boot up, to provide the other half of the encryption key.
These two halves of the encryption key are stored in the Secure Enclave of the iOS device's Processor where it cannot be accessed from outside of the processor at all. Thus all deciphering of the data stored on the SSD of the device has to be done by the processor of the device.
If driftdiver thinks he's succeeded in copying data, he is sadly deluding himself and has wasted the effort. Merely copying what is on the SSD will accomplish nothing but copying a bunch of useless garbage!
Which is what I said smarty pants.
PIF its common courtesy to ping people when you talk about them.
If the key is gone, effectively so is the data. There really is no way to get it back. With 256 bit AES encryption, without the key, it cannot be retrieved. Yes, the data on iCloud is encrypted with the same Key. But since the owner is dead, and only he knows the passcode, there is no way to re-create the key.
Bah! You did not say what Sword said.
That's where you are wrong. Apple does NOT have the codes. Only the USER has the passcode. Apple doesn't have them. There are no secondary passcodes to get into 256 bit AES encryption. There are NO backdoors.
If the government can get in, so can the crooks. Unusual cases make for bad law. Apple does not have the key to get in.
Evidently, according to Rush, Apple has the expertise to get into the phones. I personally don’t know anything about that at all.
Sure I did. I just used non-technical jargon because it was apparent you weren’t a technical person.
You just didn’t believe be so you decided to run around behind my back questioning my integrity.
Have a good life.
No, it doesn't. However, unless the terrorist paid for an upgrade, Apple only provides 5GB of free iCloud space. Assuming the iPhone 5C was a minimal iPhone, not counting iOS, there could still be about 9GBs of data unaccounted for still on the iPhone.
Apple has already been handed a search warrant for the data in the terrorist's iCloud account and, according to Tim Cook, complied with it and provided copies of everything that was in it to the authorities.
I would expect the terrorist's iCloud data was encrypted with the same key as the iPhone. That's the way iCloud works. It is also possible that he or she opted out of iCloud backup as soon as they started planning the attack and nothing was saved there after that date.
Cook has also stated that Apple has been working with the FBI and other authorities to unlock the iPhone all along. They just have not been willing to create a tool to unlock the iPhone that would compromise their ecosystem. That's why the FBI went to court seeking an order compelling them to do so.
AES 256 is hackable. I’ve watched a chinese guy do it in about 15 minutes.
The catch is the other security Apple has built in so that it cant be brute forced. Apple obviously has a way around it if they’ve done it for other investigations.
I’m glad they aren’t willing to hand over the keys to the Federal Govt. kudos to Apple
You really are a glass is half-empty guy aren't you. "Apple Inc is deliberately holding them back." What a load of Horse Manure! As if Apple is capable of stopping all the hackers and computer crackers in the world from hacking in to iOS if they could. YOU ARE DELUSIONAL!
Someone just paid out $1 million in a challenge to the hacker community for a hack that could jailbreak iOS 9 remotely. It took the hackers almost six weeks to come up with the solution, but it was paid out. Apple couldn't stop that. . . but they closed the door on it not two weeks later with an update. $1 million dollars for a two week window of opportunity for people to remotely jailbreak their iOS 9 iPhones. Whoopee!
There is still a $1 million bounty for a hack that can do what the FBI wants from the Hacker Team. That's the company that sells such tools to get into mobile devices TO the FBI, NSA, CIA, MI5, and other governmental agencies around the world. They admit they have tools for everything EXCEPT unjailbroken iOS devices. . . and they are willing to pay upwards of $1 million for a hack that will do it.
Even doing so much as that implies that it is possible. The Perp's iPhone would then exist with a version of iOS on it that was unlocked, capable of being copied and then reverse engineered by the FBI and then used to do the same to other iPhones. . . and a single bribe and that iOS version would be in the hands of crooks, capable of compromising ApplePay, stealing identities, passwords, etc.
And you accuse OTHERS of being histrionic? You are the one who believes in MAGIC solutions to this issue and that Apple is the evil corporation blocking everything for their nefarious purposes, up to no good.
I am with you regarding this effort to force Apple to make insecure iPhones that they can hack into anytime they want.
Maybe people ought to think about giving the bad guys, both in and out of government the ability to hack into our phones to plant evidence on someone they do not like, or want to take down, like those false calls to police to get a swat team sent to an innocent’s house.
Would it work both ways, Swordmaker?
I have been going round and round with DiogenesLamp. I have come to the conclusion he believes that Apple is inherently evil and that he believes there is a MAGIC solution to the problem and that Apple is hiding it. In his world view, Apple already knows how to unlock the iPhone, or it is an established fact that it is trivial thing to do, and Apple is maliciously refusing to unlock it because they are evil sodomites. Everything Apple does, in DiogenesLamp's viewpoint, is evil.
Therefore, anyone who supports the position that it is difficult to do, or that Apple has good and legitimate Constitutional reasons for refusing, is lying and/or dishonest.
He has been pounding this tin drum of his through several threads, despite any attempt to disabuse him of his delusions. He thinks his opinions equal facts.
He found ONE blog that calls itself a security site called "Trail of Bits," that claims Apple could easily unlock the iPhone in question, even though the comments on that site basically eviscerated the author's opinion, as do most others who know what they are talking about. He refuses to recognize basic facts. The fact is that it is DiogenesLamp who is delusional in his hatred for Apple. It becomes quite clear.
Which means nothing. Copying the raw gobble-de-gook data for no purpose gets you nothing. So why bring it up as if it were some profound statement of import? That fact has never been an issue in this discussion.
Perhaps they do, on THIS VINTAGE iphone, but should they?
I was thinking the same thing. They do the updates for the phone so how do they get past the encryption?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.