Or did the FBI buy it from these guys?
Posted on 04/07/2016 9:23:59 AM PDT by Swordmaker
FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the government had purchased "a tool" from a private party in order to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.
"Litigation between the government and Apple over the San Bernardino phone has ended, because the government has purchased, from a private party, a way to get into that phone, 5C, running iOS 9," Comey said.
Law enforcement officials revealed in late March that they had finally cracked the iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of two shooters in the December 2015 attack that left 14 people dead. But they did not go into details, other than to say an unnamed third party had provided assistance.
In an effort to access information stored on his phone, the government had pursued legal action in order to force Apple to help bypass the phone's security features.
Apple (AAPL, Tech30) declined to assist, saying that to do so would compromise the security of all iPhone users. The company argued that law enforcement officials didn't understand the consequences of creating a backdoor into the phone.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Personal I think they had it hacked all along. The FBI just wanted to make it appear they could not get in while they ran down all the leads in the intel.
It was an Israeli company named Cellebrite owned by a Japanese company names Sun Industries.
I just watched the instruction videos on the tool that Cellebrite makes to do the unlocking, UDEF Touch, and what you claim is patently false. The tool is universal for all the mobile devices they can open. . . Quit making up "facturds" you pull out of your nether regions, CJ. You don't have a clue what you are talking about and are making it up.
Or did the FBI buy it from these guys?
An interesting scenario. Maybe also Apple’s public protestations were also part of the public ruse you posit, and they actually did help to hack the phone, but worked a deal with the FBI to go with this cover story so that they would display a public face of “customer concern”.
We’ll probably never know the answer to that. At least not for 50 years or so when the files may be declassified and available under FOIA.
I’m sure they do a lot of work for Mossad.
Apple (AAPL, Tech30) declined to assist, saying that to do so would compromise the security of all iPhone users.
I'm pretty sure that both the FBI and Apple have directly said that a team of engineers was working with the FBI to come up with a solution. I'm also pretty sure that both have said that it was Apple who came up with discovery of the hole in the security that would permit loading a signed version of the OS, even on a locked phone, which would not wipe the phone.
What they declined to do was create a new version of the OS and digitally sign it.
So you might say this was a self inflicted wound; here's a way to do it, maybe, and due to the digital signature, we're the only ones in the world who can do it, but good luck getting approval.
I'm pretty sure it took, what, two or three hours before the suggestion was made here on FreeRepublic of the likely method used by the FBI and an outside company to copy off the data and eventually hack it.
Heck, McAfee was rather open in his offer to do it.
So, really, if I was a reporter inclined to characterize months of a dozen or more employees working directly with the FBI as 'declined to assist', why hasn't the obvious question been asked - Did Apple suggest using the method that you eventually paid another party to have done?
If they're going to continue with the narrative of a company which refused to help, I guess asking that question wouldn't further the narrative. It is a near certainty that they explicitly outlined the entire procedure from start to finish for how it could be done with the caveat that there is a chance, if something goes wrong, of corrupting the data. Whereas the software method wouldn't have that chance.
Why do I say that? Because the FBI hasn't arrested those engineers and filed charges against Apple for conspiracy to impede a federal investigation.
Capitalism still works.
And I’m sure terrorists who use their phone are going to continue using iphones, rather than the burners you can get for $5 on the streets of Berlin, for their activities.
They already knew that every phone number, every message, and every email, sent or received by that iPhone 5C, except for a few calls from Farouk's monster wife, were work related. I maintain that what they found when they got into it is that it contained only work related content. They got these data from the carrier, Verizon, who was required by law to keep a record of every thing that went into and out of that device. They also had a 45 day old iCloud back up that matched the record from Verizon.
Both Farouk and his Monster Wife Malik had obtained inexpensive off-the-shelf burner Android burner phones—which the ISIS and Al Qaida terrorists websites both recommend be purchased for any terrorism activities—which can be provisioned with an anonymous phone number and minutes without a contract merely by purchasing off-the-shelf cards which are untraceable and un-tappable because no law enforcement agency is going to know the terrorist even has them. These burner phones were destroyed by the simple expediency of smashing them with a hammer into unreadable and unrecoverable shards before they left to do their evil deed. They also destroyed both of their laptops by the same means, taking the time to remove the hard drives from the laptops and smashing them separately.
Farouk did not smash his employment provided iPhone 5C because he never used it for any terrorism related activity. Ergo, the FBI found nothing probative or useful on the device.
Highly doubtful. As late as November, The Hacking Team, a European forensic company, was offering a $1 million bounty for a hack that would break the Secure Enclave of the iPhone 5S and later. It went unclaimed.
(No, before someone asserts I am wrong, the $1 million bounty that WAS claimed in October was for a remote JAILBREAK of an already unlocked iPhone running iOS 9, which is NOT the same bounty for unlocking an LOCKED iPhone. Apple closed that vulnerability three weeks after the bounty was awarded to a team of hackers.)
Were it possible to unlock later iOS devices with such ease, there would NOT be hundreds of iOS devices stored in evidence lockers around the world waiting for such a tool. These Forensic IT companies are in the business of making money by unlocking mobile devices. . . they'd be unlocked.
Why do you say that? This article says exactly the opposite.
The vast majority of iPhones, the iPhone 5S, 6, 6 Plus, 6S, and 6S plus which now comprise approximately 450 million iPhones combined are NOT susceptible to the hack that the FBI claimed opened the iPhone 5 and 5C. . . which maybe represent approximately 100 million devices. The other iPhones such as the iPhone 4S and lower, an estimated 200 million still in circulation, were always openable.
Apple pwned
McAfee's approach was firmly anchored in the 1980s. . . he did not have a clue of what he was talking about.
All your informations belong to us!
Ah, the post 9/11 world. Privacy versus security. Does old Ben's supposed phrase apply?:
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
What of what I said are you claiming is false? The article says the FBI claims the tool only works on one specific version of the phone. Are you saying they're lying (always possible)?
I was only repeating what the FBI says and adding my own comment that the vendor of the "tool" will likely charge big bucks for the other versions (seeing as its the government and you can change big fees for things).
You saw some video on the Internet so that makes you the expert in the subject?
Everything gets cracked and hacked eventually.
Nothing remains secure.
Apple and their engineers have no duty to assist the FBI in their investigation. There is no law that compels them to do so. None. Not the All Writs Act or even a Search Warrant can do that. That was what the hearing was going to be all about. Apple won the hearing on that issue in New York before a Federal Magistrate Judge on that very issue. The Federal Government has no authority to compel anyone third party to comply with such a writ.
Did you bother to read the article? The Director of the FBI stated that the system they used to unlock the iPhone in question will not work on the latest iPhones which include the iPhone 5S and later. Those all have the Secure Enclave. How does that translate to "Apple pwned?" It means that Apple increased their security three years ago and the hackers can't get in. WAKE UP AND READ THE ARTICLE BEFORE YOU COMMENT!
From what I’ve read, the FBI may not allow the tool to be used in any case which might go to court. If so, it’s going to be even less useful than it seems.
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.