Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

FBI HASN’T FOUND ANYTHING USEFUL ON SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTER’S IPHONE YET
Digital Trends ^ | April 14, 2016 | By Julian Chokkattu

Posted on 04/14/2016 2:13:22 PM PDT by Swordmaker

The FBI’s quest to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5c and subsequent legal battle with Apple may have amounted to very little, as reports say nothing of real significance has been discovered on the now-unlocked device.

But the FBI is still analyzing the information, a law enforcement source told CBS News.

Related: Apple vs. the FBI: A complete timeline of the war over tech encryption

Apple refused a court order demanding it to create a backdoor into the iPhone, which would have allowed the FBI to access suspected terrorist Syed Farook’ personal information stored within. The Cupertino company said it would threaten the privacy and security of its customers, as the special code used to bypass the iPhone’s security could get into the wrong hands.

But the FBI dropped the case as it was able to access the phone after it paid professional “gray hat” hackers a flat fee to unlock the device. Apple still wants to know how the hackers got past its security, but the company won’t sue the government to find out.

Apple was planning to find the technique through legal discovery in a New York drug related case, but it appears that the technique is under the legal ownership of the hackers the FBI paid, according to Reuters.

We reported earlier this month that the method could be revealed through the Vulnerabilities Equities Process — a White House review group decides whether government-discovered security flaws should be disclosed to companies or the public. But Obama administration sources reportedly told Reuters that the process will likely not apply in the San Bernardino case, as it was a third-party group that discovered the flaw.

FBI Director James Comey said recently the bureau is still deciding if it should disclose the method.

“We tell Apple, then they’re going to fix it, then we’re back where we started from,” Comey said. “We may end up there, we just haven’t decided yet.”


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: applepinglist; fbi; terrorism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: CodeToad

If you’re going to call Swordmaker a liar, best you’d quote exactly where he “claimed it was ‘impossible’”.


41 posted on 04/14/2016 3:35:06 PM PDT by ctdonath2 ("Get the he11 out of my way!" - John Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: humblegunner
Maybe they should look at ALL CAPS stuff.

The headline was stet the way it was published. I to lazy to retype the entire thing in upper and lower case format. Perhaps it deserves being shouted from the rooftops?

42 posted on 04/14/2016 3:35:21 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: eyeamok
And they still can’t find the front door to David Koresh’s compound in Waco.

it was long ago shredded. . .

43 posted on 04/14/2016 3:37:17 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Coronal
Deleting in itself wouldn’t necessarily get rid of the data. If he did use it to plan the attack, why didn’t he destroy it like they did the other phones?

On NAND memory, it does. There are no remnants left like you would find on magnetic memory media. No shadows left from old magnetic domains, even with overwriting. Apple's system actually wipes the memory back to factory clean. Even if Apple did not use a clean wipe in their erase routines, the quick erase method of deleting the encryption keys is just as good because trying to brute force a 256 bit AES encryption will take more time than the Universe has left before it dies from a heat death before you will get even a third of the way through all the possible keys.

44 posted on 04/14/2016 3:45:14 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TwelveOfTwenty
What could they get from the phone that they couldn’t get from checking their provider, anyway?

Since nothing from the previous six weeks before the attack had been backed up to iCloud, nothing from that time period was on the iCloud records that Apple handed over to the FBI pursuant to a search warrant served on Apple back in December. Those things would still be on the iPhone if those data were not erased.

45 posted on 04/14/2016 3:59:27 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2
Having a phone could be useful during such an attack. So...he kept his “clean”, employer-supplied, never-before-used-for-nefarious-purposes phone handy during the attacks.

It turns out that this phone was not with them during the attack. It was found in a Lexus sedan in parked on the street in front of their apartment. . . not, as originally reported, in the Lexus SUB that was shot up during the shoot out where they both died. It was never with them during the attack. They left it behind.

It is possible he had it with him when he went to the party earlier, before he left to go change into his required, nifty all black Jihadi attack outfit with all the straps, pockets, and attack gear. . .

46 posted on 04/14/2016 4:05:44 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Fido969
People forget how bad their government is at anything. The FBI has drained lakes, run scent dogs off of cliffs looking for a guy for years in a town of a few thousand who lived out of a dumpster, gave us Waco, Ruby Ridge, the harassment of Richard Jewel, Potts & Horriuchi, TWA 800 nonsense, Benghazi follow up investigation to obtain evidence two months after, etc...

But fear not folks, Martha Stewart is in check.

47 posted on 04/14/2016 4:32:34 PM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

So they say.


48 posted on 04/14/2016 7:37:21 PM PDT by DAC21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker; CodeToad
>> The FBI did find that you and your Apple employer are both liars since you claimed it was “impossible” to do what the FBI did and get into that phone.

> Quit making false statements of fact. YOU ARE A LIAR!

Yes, yes... but Code Toad has been lying like that about you and Apple for so long, so consistently, and with such maniacal fervor, you just HAVE to admire her persistence.

Or whatever you'd call it... I think she claimed to be a programmer or similar. Consider -that- some time...

49 posted on 04/14/2016 7:54:33 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: dayglored; CodeToad; dennisw
Yes, yes... but Code Toad has been lying like that about you and Apple for so long, so consistently, and with such maniacal fervor, you just HAVE to admire her persistence.

In a way, I do. . . just not with the sense of humor that Baron Dennis Won Munchausen brings to the table. . . she just has a meanness about her.

50 posted on 04/14/2016 11:27:27 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker
Another is one I have proposed: the iPhone was not their property and Islamic Jihadists are required to ritually clean before doing their act of Jihad. That means they bathe, shave off body hair, pray, and must NOT commit any sins prior to killing their victims (not a sin), but THEFT is a sin.

I rather doubt that, given the confirmed reports of the 9/11 hijackers drinking (prohibited by Islamic law) and cavorting at titty bars before the attack.

51 posted on 04/15/2016 6:52:15 AM PDT by Cyberman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2

“Apple never claimed cracking that model of phone running that OS with that feature enabled was impossible.”

Swordmaker said it was. Go read his posts on the subject. He posted page after page of Apple talking points and he proclaimed it was “impossible”.


52 posted on 04/15/2016 7:34:17 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2
"If you’re going to call Swordmaker a liar, best you’d quote exactly where he “claimed it was ‘impossible’”."

No, I'll leave that to FR's search feature. You can read them: Thread after thread of swordmaker posting one Apple talking point after another.


53 posted on 04/15/2016 7:35:54 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker

Well, what else would we expect from a liberal company like Apple but their social media trolls to lie and then lie about lying? Alinsky tactics.


54 posted on 04/15/2016 7:38:34 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad

You accused him of lying, not of “talking points”.
Back it up or be guilty of libel.


55 posted on 04/15/2016 7:59:37 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ("Get the he11 out of my way!" - John Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad
Swordmaker said it was. Go read his posts on the subject. He posted page after page of Apple talking points and he proclaimed it was “impossible”.

Liar.

56 posted on 04/15/2016 10:14:36 AM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: ctdonath2; CodeToad
You accused him of lying, not of “talking points”.
Back it up or be guilty of libel.

I did post what Apple stated about the security built in to the iPhone 5C and the Crypto Engine along with the iOS installed in the phone as reported. I did not say it was impossible to crack.

I did say it was impossible to break the 256 bit AES encryption by brute force or any other known means which we have today or that are on our mathematical horizon, which I qualified every single time I stated that. . . and it is. I still stand by that. CodeToad the LIAR always conflates that into me saying it is impossible to hack the iPhone 5C. As for that, I even suggested a means to hack into the iPhone that, although extremely difficult, might work.

57 posted on 04/15/2016 10:21:42 AM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Swordmaker
Apple claims and swordmaker supports that it is "impossible" to do what the FBI just did: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3356048/posts

You also do not know that AES cannot be decrypted. You are not a mathematics, computer science, nor cryptology expert. You merely repost nonsense found on the Internet and Apple talking points.

58 posted on 04/15/2016 10:59:52 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad; dayglored; ctdonath2; DesertRhino; itsahoot; palmer; IncPen; Cyberman; TheBattman
Apple claims and swordmaker supports that it is "impossible" to do what the FBI just did: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3356048/posts

You also do not know that AES cannot be decrypted. You are not a mathematics, computer science, nor cryptology expert. You merely repost nonsense found on the Internet and Apple talking points.

Please show in the article you linked to that I said ANYTHING about the iPhone 5c and iOS 7 being unbreakable. Here is what I truthfully said in a reply to another Freeper in that article you linked, which is titled "Apple can't decrypt your iPhone: Why it matters", which was published in MacWorld, on November 3, 2015:

Of course they can. If they couldn't do it, they would have told the judge that, and avoided the expensive legal battle. Instead, they said they wouldn't do it (in that case).

No, you are wrong about what Apple told the judge.

Apple actually told the judge that they could not unlock or decipher the more than 90% of iOS devices that are currently using iOS 8 and iOS 9, but they can unlock the less than 10% of iOS devices that are still using iOS 7 or lower. That is not the same as saying "of course they can unlock all iOS devices," as you claim.

They did say that they would not unlock the older devices (which this case did involve) because that would make a differentiation between Apple customers who had opted not to upgrade to the newer iOS. It would also set a bad precedent that the government could require a third party to expend time and money to serve the government's interests, when the government had not shown there was anything on the device of probative value, and they were merely wanting to go on a fishing expedition.

10 posted on 11/03/2015 3:53:29 PM PST by Swordmaker ( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)

I also made this comment to the same Freeper:

Of course they can. If they couldn't do it, they would have told the judge that, and avoided the expensive legal battle. Instead, they said they wouldn't do it (in that case).

Apple might have just scored some points with users but might have also further cemented the government's stance against encrypted devices. Responding to a Brooklyn federal judge's request for input, Apple revealed that it is impossible for it to unlock an iPhone or an iPad running iOS 8 or later due to stronger encryption methods. That said, it does admit that it can technically unlock devices running an older version, including the one involved in a current court proceeding, but advises the judge not to open that can of worms. SOURCE


13 posted on 11/03/2015 4:10:44 PM PST by Swordmaker ( This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)

Exactly where do I say it is impossible to unlock the iPhone 5C, which was released with iOS 7, running an older Processor than the ones being discussed in this entire article? Please, oh please, show us all this statement you claim is in this thread which you say is a LIE and which you claim the entire article is about a LIE! It looks to me to be a very nuanced article claiming just the opposite of what the LIAR that YOU ARE claims is an absolute! Making you a LIAR.

Additionally, please show that the FBI cracked 256 bit AES encryption. You also have not one whit of an idea what level of math i know or what I have done with it. Economists have to be mathematicians and statisticians. You obviously have never done anywhere near the math that I have done on this site, for example calculating the momentum carried by the 747 involved in the Flight TWA-800 incident (I tutored in Physics in college), or using those calculations to propose an alternative timeline in that incident which actually accounted for the evidence and accurately predicted exactly where the wreck pieces fell.. . . and, frankly, I don't see many others even attempting it.

So yes, I do know what enough of am talking about in math to read the technical papers on the state of the art of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), but YOU, CodeToad, have no clue and can only stand on the sidelines and throw feces and brickbats, and write graffiti on the threads.

Now, again, you obfuscate what you are claiming by limiting your statement into a strawman so you can make it true. You say that "You also do not know that AES cannot be decrypted." You don't know what you are talking about but you raise a question that is a mealy-mouthed strawman.

AES with low bit keys CAN be decrypted. . . but NOT 256 bit AES which is what I have always been discussing and have always been careful to specify and also which Apple uses on its iOS devices.

Our government and Financial institutions use 128 bit AES encryption for most applications because it is fast and "good enough". . . but I know your game. . . You'll point to some article that claims that AES 64 bit has been broken and say "Swordmaker, is lying about AES being unbreakable!"

This makes you a conscious and intentional LIAR!

59 posted on 04/15/2016 6:27:20 PM PDT by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad; Swordmaker
> Apple claims and swordmaker supports that it is "impossible" to do what the FBI just did: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3356048/posts You also do not know that AES cannot be decrypted. You are not a mathematics, computer science, nor cryptology expert. You merely repost nonsense found on the Internet and Apple talking points.

Good Lord, Code Toad, do you have any idea how foolish and ignorant of facts you sound? There's no evidence the FBI or their contractor actually "decrypted" Apple's AES encryption. They "broke into the phone". There are numerous possible angles to "breaking into the phone" that do not require breaking the AES encryption.

Consider -- if AES was indeed cracked in this endeavor, it would be a HUGE FREAKIN' BIG DEAL all over the world. Cryptographers would be losing their minds over it. Technical articles and papers would be flying off the presses. What do you hear instead?

Crickets, Code Toad. Crickets. Why? Because your supposition and accusation are false.

I must say, your repeated slanderous comments about a fellow FReeper have become monumentally tiresome and boring. You chose to pick a fight you cannot win, because -- for the most part -- your accusations are demonstrably false; those that are not obviously untrue are at best just chaff, not provably right nor wrong.

You are welcome to post your opinion of events, situations, and so forth, of course. Have at. But your continual personal attacks against your fellow FReeper Swordmaker are uncalled-for, and unworthy of -- not to mention counter to the rules of -- this forum, in my opinion. I've take issue with Swordmaker about some things in the past, but I like to think I did so based on a discussion of facts, not personal invective.

Surely you have more to offer the rest of us than your present stream of garbage. I look forward to reading future comments from you that are more informative and interesting.

I hope you have a great evening, and feel better in the morning.

60 posted on 04/15/2016 6:49:57 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson