Posted on 03/29/2016 6:19:06 PM PDT by dennisw
When the tech giant wouldn’t unlock a San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone, the FBI initiated legal action—then found another way to get the information it needed.
In the end, the FBI didn’t need Apple’s help to extract information from a dead terrorist’s iPhone. Hackers, the FBI says, did the government’s work for it.
On Monday, the Justice Department asked a judge in California to put aside a search warrant compelling Apple to assist law enforcement in obtaining information from the phone used by dead San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The reason: Apple’s help was no longer required.
That’s because tech companies and researchers around the world beat a path to the bureau’s door. Let us find a way into that phone that Apple won’t help you crack, they said.
You won’t find that version of events spelled out quite so bluntly in any court documents. But it’s essentially what FBI Director James Comey told reporters last week in Washington.
“The attention that’s been drawn to this issue, by the litigation and by the controversy that’s surrounded it, has stimulated a marketplace of creative people all around the world to try and come up with ideas,” Comey said. “Lots of folks have come to us with potential ideas.”
And why wouldn’t they? One of the world’s most influential technology companies had squared off against the world’s most powerful law enforcement agency. Whether those creative minds were drawn by money, the potential for future business—in the United States or abroad—or just the sheer challenge, they apparently came calling.
One idea finally worked. Over the weekend of March 19, an outside party—all officials will say is that it’s not a U.S. government agency—demonstrated a technique for getting information from Farook’s phone without permanently destroying it. And over the Easter weekend, the FBI put it to work and investigators were finally able to go through the phone’s contents.
The FBI has said practically nothing about the “tool” that helped the FBI get inside the phone, as a U.S. law enforcement official called it in a hastily arranged press conference on Monday evening. Nor would the official say whether investigators might use it again on the dozen or so other iPhones the FBI is reportedly trying to gain access to, or whether the bureau would share the tool with local law enforcement agencies, who are believed to have hundreds of phones just waiting to be cracked.
“I think the best answer I can give you is it’s premature to say anything about our ability to access other phones,” said the official, who discussed the case with reporters on condition of anonymity and said almost nothing about where the FBI will go from here.
But he didn’t have to. Comey’s earlier remarks, coupled with the government’s decision to drop the warrant request, sent a message to other tech companies: Work with us, or don’t. We’ll get what we need without you.
mhwahahhahahahahahah ! ! !
So to everyone else out there in Apple Land, there IS a way to enter their mystery secret code protection blocked pass. Keep trying if the FBI can to it, so could the Taliban, or the ISIS or the friends of Chapo Guzman.
I’m sure I read somewhere it was with the assistance of Mossad
So, correct me if I’m wrong, Apple now knows that their phones can be hacked, but they don’t know how. Maybe they should have helped the FBI.
I liked the comp expert who theorized that replacing one or two key chips in an iphone will make it hackable. Use a soldering gun with exacting and expert technique to remove the chip then insert the same chip but programmed to make the iphone hackable
“I’m sure I read somewhere it was with the assistance of Mossad”
Prime internet gossip was that an Israeli company hacked it for the FBI. For about $16,000
Which, all along, was the proper solution for the problem, without the heavy hand of Federal government abusing its power.
Now we get to see the leaky sieve that all the 3-letter agencies are when it comes to actual, real life National Security.
If I were a betting man, I would bet that it will be less than 3 months before the technique is in the hands of ISIL... Syria, The Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, Pakistan... etc., etc...
It was done on one device, of one obsolete model, running one operating system.
We’ve been discussing the likely exploit for a long time.
The technique won’t work on newer models.
Doing it once took a professional computer forensics company, apparently billing $15,000.
Hardly “unleashing a hacker army”.
Have an iPhone 5 and are concerned about the technique used? Enable and use long passwords, problem solved. Or just upgrade the device.
I have several thoughts about the issue, but there's enough stupidity in the real world without my contribution...
Or they do know how, and already fixed the weakness in later models.
ISIL et al don’t seem sophisticated enough to do what an “infinite resources” agency couldn’t without help from a business specializing in such work on the other side of the planet.
My understanding is that the FBI was looking for more than getting into.this one phone. They were looking for a backdoor that allowed them to enter any phone at any time.
But, if they can get into this phone, doesn’t that mean that they can now get into any phone like this one?
I would never suggest that they are.
But I would suggest that foreign nationals, technicians in every corner of the U.S. defense system, and even within the U.S government, are quite capable of stealing the technique.
It was an old 5C, much of the protection was software based, but seriously, as I said from the start, warrants aren’t RFQs. Put out the contract need, there will be people who will answer.
Only if the phone is an iPhone 5, and is using a 4-digit numeric passcode with the “self destruct” enabled - and the FBI is willing to pay thousands to another company to perform the operation.
It’s not trivial.
Hacker army, OH SURE.
They paid an Israeli company $15,000 and THEY did it.
heh.
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.