SHOULD APPLE BE TOLD HOW THE FBI BROKE INTO THE TERRORIST’S iPHONE?

…A current Apple iPhone

 

The group that broke into the iPhone can be quite controversial.

 

Being an Apple iPhone user, I have been very interested in how the FBI was able to break into the iPhone 5 that was used in the San Bernardino terrorist’s attack.

 

For weeks, we were given the idea that the Israeli firm Cellebrite was the organization that the FBI was contacting for help with breaking the four-digit code on the phone, without it destroying the data inside.

 

The bureau has now stated that in this particular case, they did not need the services of Cellebrite.  But then, who did the FBI use to break the code?

 

As it turns out, the FBI went to a group that is often considered part of an ethically murky group of researchers who sell computer flaws to governments, or to companies that make computer surveillance tools.

 

This group of hackers, sometimes referred to as “Gray Hats” can be quite controversial.  The good hackers are called “White Hats”, but the ones that the FBI used are those on the other side. These are the shady groups that also help governments, any government, spy on their own citizens.

 

The same tools however, might also be used to track terrorists or hack an adversary spying on the United States.

 

These researchers do not disclose the flaws they find to the companies responsible for the software, as the solution's value depends on the software remaining vulnerable.

 

In the case of the San Bernardino iPhone, the iPhone solution brought to the bureau also has limited shelf life.

 

The FBI has now said that this latest solution works only on iPhone 5C's running the iOS 9 operating system.  This is a narrow group of phones as the new iPhone 7 is due out next month.  So, there are a number of iPhones manufactured since the 5C where this latest solution would not work.  Apple has also said that it would not sue the government to gain access to the solution.

 

The original challenge from the beginning was first to disable the feature on the phone that wipes data stored on the device after 10 incorrect tries at guessing the code. But there was a second feature to deal with, that steadily increases the time allowed between each failed attempt.  Both of these features had to be disabled.

 

Many security and privacy experts have been calling on the FBI to disclose the vulnerability data to Apple so that the firm can patch it.  But the FBI Director, James B. Comey is hesitating to give that information to Apple.  Per the director, if the government shares data on the flaws with Apple, “they’re going to fix it and then we’re back where we started from,” Comey said this in a discussion at Ohio’s Kenyon College. Nonetheless, he has since said, “we’re considering whether to make that disclosure or not, to Apple.”

 

The reality is that If you had to pick the economy and a government that is most dependent on its digital infrastructure, that would be the United States.

 

The White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel has said, “We do have an intelligence and national security mission that we have to carry out. That is the factor that we weigh in making our decisions.”

 

This makes me feel a bit better, as I will soon be in the process of getting a new iPhone.  My current phone is an Apple 5C.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016