Tag Archives: San Bernardino Shooting

Featured, Privacy, Technology

FBI Cracks San Bernardino iPhone, Moves To End Case Against Apple

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation claimed Monday that it successfully gained access to the iPhone used by one of the suspects in the San Bernardino shooting without the help of Apple Inc.

While the agency has not revealed the method it used or if any data was retrieved from the phone, it reportedly released a statement claiming that it is now “reviewing the information on the iPhone.” 

“The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc. mandated by Court’s Order Compelling Apple Inc. to Assist Agents in Search dated February 16, 2016,” prosecutors wrote in a filing dated March 28.

The Associated Press noted that “withdrawal of the court process also takes away Apple’s ability to legally request details on the method the FBI used in this case.”

After U.S. magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ruled in February that Apple must comply with the FBI by building software that would allow the agency to break the iPhone’s encryption, the agency requested a motion to vacate the hearing the night before it was scheduled. 

[RELATED: FBI Claims It Has Found ‘Outside Party’ To Break Into iPhone in San Bernardino Case] 

The FBI’s filing, which was approved by Judge Pym on March 21, named an unknown “outside party” and proposed that to make time for testing to determine “whether it is a viable method,” the government should have until April 5 to submit a status report. 

Apple also released a statement, criticizing the FBI’s initial demand and saying that the case “should never have been brought.”

[pull_quote_center]From the beginning, we objected to the FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government’s dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought. We will continue to help law enforcement with their investigations, as we have done all along, and we will continue to increase the security of our products as the threats and attacks on our data become more frequent and more sophisticated.[/pull_quote_center]

The statement went on to say that the company believes that people in the U.S. and around the world “deserve data protection, security and privacy,” and that “sacrificing one for the other only puts people and countries at greater risk.”

“This case raised issues which deserve a national conversation about our civil liberties, and our collective security and privacy,” the tech company concluded. “Apple remains committed to participating in that discussion.”

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Government Accountability, Privacy

Bipartisan Senators to Introduce Bill Forcing Companies to Override Encryption

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A bipartisan team of United States senators is reportedly close to introducing a controversial bill that would let law enforcement force companies to comply with court orders seeking access to encrypted data.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), both members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, began working on the bill after mass shootings occurred in Paris in November, and in San Bernardino, California, in December.

Following the shootings, Feinstein said she was “going to seek legislation if nobody else is,” and she claimed that it was in sync with the changing world.

“I think this world is really changing in terms of people wanting the protection and wanting law enforcement, if there is conspiracy going on over the Internet, that that encryption ought to be able to be pierced,” Feinstein said.

[RELATED: U.S. Police Chiefs Demand Access to Encrypted Communications Following Paris Attacks]

One of Feinstein’s aides reportedly said that while the bill will require companies to decrypt previously encrypted data and turn it over to law enforcement, it does not list a specific penalty for noncompliance, which would leave the punishment up to the courts.

While the bill could be introduced this week, Feinstein told The Hill she passed the text along to the White House, leaving the timing of the introduction up to President Obama, and Burr said it “depends on how fast the White House gets back to us.”

[RELATED: Apple Rejects Government Order to Create ‘Backdoor’ for iPhone]

The bill has received criticism from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who told the Huffington Post that he believes it will give tech companies few options, and as a result, “the American people will be less safe and less secure in their homes and neighborhoods.”

“I will do anything necessary to block a bill that weakens strong encryption,” Wyden said. “I will use every procedural tool in the Senate to block a bill that weakens strong encryption because I believe that weakening strong encryption will leave millions of Americans less safe and less secure.”

[RELATED: NY Judge: DoJ Cannot Force Apple to Extract Data from Locked iPhone in Drug Case]

The introduction of Feinstein and Burr’s bill comes at a time when Apple Inc. is pushing back against the Department of Justice on 12 different court orders that would require the company to go from extracting contacts photos and call records from an iPhone, to designing new software that would let the government override the iPhone’s encryption altogether.

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Featured, Privacy, Technology

Bill Gates Sides with FBI, Downplays Order to Create ‘Backdoor’ for iPhone

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Microsoft founder Bill Gates set himself apart from other Silicon Valley CEOs when he pledged his support to the FBI, and criticized Apple for refusing to comply with the government’s order to “build a backdoor” into the iPhone.

While Apple CEO Tim Cook said that creating the technology to break into an encrypted iPhone “has implications far beyond the legal case at hand,” Gates told Financial Times that he disagrees with Cook’s interpretation of the request.

“Nobody is talking about a ‘backdoor,’ so that’s not the right question,” Gates said. “This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case.”

The “particular case” that Gates is referencing is the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who is a suspect in the shooting that killed 14 people and wounded 22 in San Bernardino, California, in December. Last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple Inc. to break into Farook’s iPhone to access its data.

[RELATED: Apple Rejects Government Order To Create ‘Backdoor’ for iPhone]

However, in a letter to customers last week, Cook asserted that the government’s order was for Apple to create “a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation.”

Cook claimed the software “does not exist today,” and said that in the wrong hands, it would have “the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”

[RELATED: FBI Ordered Password Reset on San Bernardino Shooting Suspect’s iPhone]

The FBI confirmed on Friday that it ordered San Bernardino county officials to reset the iCloud password of the iPhone used by Farook, which reportedly eliminated “the possibility of an auto-backup” of the device’s data.

In his interview with Financial Times, published Tuesday, Gates insisted that Apple still has access to the information.

“Apple has access to the information,” Gates said. “They’re just refusing to provide the access, and the courts will tell them whether to provide the access or not. You shouldn’t call the access some special thing.”

Gates went on to say he believes this case is no different than the FBI asking a bank to hack into the account of one of its customers.

“It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records,” Gates said. “Let’s say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said, ‘Don’t make me cut this ribbon because you’ll make me cut it many times’.”

Gates also told FT that he hopes there will be a debate “so that the safeguards are built and so people do not opt” to say “it is better that the government does not have access to any information.”

[RELATED: Facebook, Twitter Among Companies Support Apple in Fight Against FBI]

The views expressed by Gates contrast those of other major tech companies and their CEOs.

Facebook issued a statement claiming it will “continue to fight aggressively against requirements for companies to weaken the security of their systems.” Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said he supports Apple and thanked Cook for his leadership. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said “forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users’ privacy.” And WhatsApp CEO and co-founder Jan Koum said tech companies “must not allow this dangerous precedent to be set.”

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Editor’s Pick, Featured, Hot, Privacy, Technology

Apple Rejects Government Order to Create ‘Backdoor’ for iPhone

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In an unprecedented ruling Tuesday, a magistrate judge ordered Apple Inc. to infiltrate the iPhone of a suspect in the San Bernardino shooting case, and the CEO of Apple issued a public statement vowing to fight back against it.

As part of an investigation into the shooting that occurred in San Bernardino, California in December when a couple opened fire at a work Christmas party killing 14 people and wounding 22, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym ordered Apple to help the Obama administration break into an encrypted iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook, one of the suspected shooters.

Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook posted a statement regarding the order online, and said he opposes it due to his belief that it “has implications far beyond the legal case at hand.”

According to Cook, the government has ordered Apple to create “a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation.”

Cook acknowledged the importance of encryption, and said that although he was “shocked and outraged by the deadly act of terrorism in San Bernardino,” he feels that Apple has worked with the FBI to the fullest extent in retrieving information related to the case.

[pull_quote_center]When the FBI has requested data that’s in our possession, we have provided it. Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants, as we have in the San Bernardino case. We have also made Apple engineers available to advise the FBI, and we’ve offered our best ideas on a number of investigative options at their disposal.[/pull_quote_center]

Cook brought up the unparalleled power that would come from Apple agreeing to “build a backdoor” into the iPhone, which would create “the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”

“Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone.

Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.

The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.”

Cook noted that “Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority.”

Cook went on to say that while the government has argued that “building a backdoor for just one iPhone is a simple, clean-cut solution,” he believes that once “a way to bypass the code is revealed, the encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge.”

“Opposing this order is not something we take lightly,” Cook said. “We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government.”

[pull_quote_center]We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack. For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.[/pull_quote_center]

Cook said “the implications of the government’s demands are chilling,” and noted that if a backdoor to the iPhone is built, the U.S. government could “extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge.”

[pull_quote_center]We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.[/pull_quote_center]

[UPDATE: Facebook, Twitter Among Companies Supporting Apple in Fight Against FBI]

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