iPhone code cracked

The Justice Department has successfully gotten into the phone of the California mass shooter. From the AP Big Story:

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The lawsuit against Apple has been dropped.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman
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Apple definitely lost this battle. They could have just cracked one phone. Now the FBI has the key to crack them all.

Reply to
gfretwell

FBI never should have gone to Apple in the first place, it just made them look dumb

Reply to
philo

FBI needs physical possession of the phone to crack it in this way. The solution they wanted from Apple would have allowed them to PUSH an update to any phone IN THE WILD and crack it remotely.

FBI lost this battle. And, Apple can now work on other approaches to make iPhone7 "impossible" for them to comply with ANY court ordered mandates.

FBI was stupid in how they handled this one!

Reply to
Don Y

That didn't make them look dumb, leaking the hack made them look dumb. It was better when ISIS thought Apple was bullet proof.

Reply to
gfretwell

No, they didn't ask for that. In fact, though the FBI had the phone, they were willing to give it to Apple to let them work on it and not tell anyone else what they did.

Reply to
Micky

Somehow I just can't imagine that we of the public have been made privy to the real truth of the matter.

Reply to
philo

Micky wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

... thereby breaking the chain of custody, and rendering any information retrieved by Apple completely useless for any criminal prosecution -- so says an attorney I heard discussing the case on the radio a couple of weeks ago.

Reply to
Doug Miller

The feds will argue that they aren't looking for evidence, just "tips".

[Of course, any of those other court cases still pending now can probably be challenged by defense attorneys: "My client claims the 'evidence' The State has introduced has been tampered with. We demand to know *HOW* that evidence was obtained. We've retained a crew of former Apple employees to examine, carefully, the State's claims as to how they extracted it from this device..."]

Apple was asked to WRITE SOFTWARE, cryptographically *sign* that software and then introduce it to the phone (via the normal update mechanism). The feds spelled out EXACTLY what the differences between that software and the "normal" software would be. I.e., it didn't include anything that would make a casual user of an "updated" phone realize that it had been hacked. The changes would only be noticed by a person wanting to circumvent the protections on the phone: "Gee, I wonder if my phone has been hacked? How can I test this theory? Ah! I can deliberately enter a bad passcode 11 times and see if I end up BRICKING my phone (in which case, it has NOT been hacked). If it still works after that 11th attempt, I'll know the phone has been hacked!" D'uh...

The feds lost this -- and probably KNEW they would lose in the courts. Now that the feds have an "alternative remedy", they can't argue that they should be able to compel Apple to "write software" -- even resorting to

200 year old laws! And, Apple can spin this as "why should we be compelled to 'speak' (the act of writing software is a form of speech) what YOU want us to speak"?

But, this tool will only help them with phones of which they can gain physical custody. So, they're stuck in perpetual "catch up" mode.

And, the bad guys now know that they should toss their phone into a wood chipper before embarking on any evil deeds!

Apple, of course, now knows that they should ensure any future phones have the protection mechanisms built into *hardware* -- so they can't be tweeked (under court order) by rewriting the software.

Yes, the feds were stupid to let this boil over into the public...

Reply to
Don Y

My favorite paragraph:

"The withdrawal of the court process also takes away Apple's ability to legally request details on the method the FBI used in this case. Apple attorneys said last week that they hoped the government would share that information with them if it proved successful."

In other words, "We didn't help you this time, so please help us make it even more difficult for you next time."

Reply to
DerbyDad03

That's not true. The FBI didn't specify how they wanted Apple to do what needed to be done. There was no requirement that it be "pushable" or that the FBI even have any direct access to what Apple created. The FBI even offered to let Apple have possession of the phone, modify it, then let the FBI access this one phone remotely.

I'd say Apple lost the battle. It's clear now that an outside third party, which could be anyone from someone at a security firm to a hacker, provided the FBI with a way into Apple's phone products which Apple claims are so super secure. What's better? Apple having cooperated quietly? Or Apple having raised a big stink and now everyone knows that at least some unknown person out there knows how to crack their phones? The only remaining step if for the technique to be made public on the web, finishing the humiliation of Apple.

Reply to
trader_4

+1
Reply to
trader_4

Completely wrong. Read the actual court order. It says nothing at all about that. It simply asked Apple to:

1 - Disable the 10 strike erase feature 2 - Give them a means to electronically present passcodes via, USB, wifi, etc.

BS. Read the court order.

BS. Read the court order.

Sure, that's why they went to court, right?

The remaining step is for whoever helped the FBI or some other hacker to put the method on the web. See how Apple likes that.

It's not over. It's very likely another police agency with soon resume, where this left off. This wasn't the only iphone.

Reply to
trader_4

The FBI may choose to share their new tool with other law enforcement too. Or whoever helped them may decide to put it out on the web. Or another hacker may decide that since it's clearly possible, they want to take up the challenge. How Apple thinks that's better than Apple just quietly doing it, IDK.

Reply to
trader_4

Yeahbut. The guys here know what they're talking about on these 'puter things. I can find the on-off switch on a good day.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

I *think* you're agreeing with me, but I'm not sure. ;-)

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Yes, I'm basically agreeing with you, that Apple isn't going to know how the FBI finally got in. Except I don't see how Apple would ever be able to legally "request" and get anything from the FBI if it had gone the other way. If Apple had just done what the FBI asked, what the court ordered, then Apple would automatically know what they did. Even without knowing what they did, Apple already knows how they would have approached it, how they would have done it, and can use that knowledge to harden any future products. Apple may find out what this method was, depending on who helped the FBI.

Reply to
trader_4

I agree with that. I don't think we ever heard the whole story. It all seemed too pat for me.

Reply to
SeaNymph

none of it matters

Apple will make the next OS version more secure and make it impossible for their own engineers to crack. Apple doesn't want to be in this position again.

In that sense, Apple won becasue no leagal precident was set that can stop them from making their OS more secure, which is what they want to do.

Which is the right answer. There should be a limit to what a govt (any govt) can demand.

What if it was a Samsung phone? Can the FBI make demands on a non US company? Can another govt make demands on Apple? Its a can of worms.

If the FBI or NSA or KGB can crack it without Apples help, fine. Have at it. Just don't ask me to help.

Reply to
makolber

They should have hired Michelle Obama's friend who did such a wonderful job with the Obamacare internet set up.

Reply to
Frank

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