John McAfee offers to decrypt iPhone used by San Bernardino terrorists, criticizes FBI
Calling it a "black day and the beginning of the end of the U.S. as a world power," software developer John McAfee criticized the FBI on Thursday for attempting to force Apple to build a backdoor to access data from a terrorist's iPhone, saying that he will decrypt the handset himself for free.
McAfee, an eccentric millionaire who is currently vying for presidential nomination from the Libertarian Party , believes that he and his team could hack into the iPhone in question without the need for a new, insecure version of iOS to be built by Apple. He shared his thoughts in an editorial published by Tech Insider.
The former antivirus creator believes his team would be able to decrypt the information from the iPhone 5c at the center of the case within three weeks. He believes they will be able to unlock the iPhone "primarily" with social engineering.
McAfee argued that allowing him to unlock the iPhone free of charge will negate the need for Apple to go down a dangerous path, building a backdoor into iOS to allow access to investigators.
"If the government succeeds in getting this back door, it will eventually get a back door into all encryption, and our world, as we know it, is over," he wrote. "In spite of the FBI's claim that it would protect the back door, we all know that's impossible. There are bad apples everywhere, and there only needs to be in the US government."
McAfee's confidence that his team could crack the iPhone is based on the fact that he does not believe the FBI would hire the type of people he works with. Specifically, he described "prodigies" who sport mohawk haircuts, ear piercings, tattooed faces, and one person "who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year."
"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone," McAfee wrote. "This is a pure and simple fact."
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Apple to comply with FBI requests for assistance in unlocking an encrypted iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Law enforcement technicians are looking to facilitate a brute force attack, but need specialized software capable of bypassing iOS 9's passcode counter.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took immediate action, vowing to fight government calls for privileged hardware access in a letter posted to his company's website just hours after the order came down. For Cook, the issue has implications far beyond a single iPhone, an argument floated by the White House on Wednesday.
McAfee, an eccentric millionaire who is currently vying for presidential nomination from the Libertarian Party , believes that he and his team could hack into the iPhone in question without the need for a new, insecure version of iOS to be built by Apple. He shared his thoughts in an editorial published by Tech Insider.
"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone. This is a pure and simple fact." - John McAfee
The former antivirus creator believes his team would be able to decrypt the information from the iPhone 5c at the center of the case within three weeks. He believes they will be able to unlock the iPhone "primarily" with social engineering.
McAfee argued that allowing him to unlock the iPhone free of charge will negate the need for Apple to go down a dangerous path, building a backdoor into iOS to allow access to investigators.
"If the government succeeds in getting this back door, it will eventually get a back door into all encryption, and our world, as we know it, is over," he wrote. "In spite of the FBI's claim that it would protect the back door, we all know that's impossible. There are bad apples everywhere, and there only needs to be in the US government."
McAfee's confidence that his team could crack the iPhone is based on the fact that he does not believe the FBI would hire the type of people he works with. Specifically, he described "prodigies" who sport mohawk haircuts, ear piercings, tattooed faces, and one person "who demands to smoke weed while working and won't work for less than a half-million dollars a year."
"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone," McAfee wrote. "This is a pure and simple fact."
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Apple to comply with FBI requests for assistance in unlocking an encrypted iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Law enforcement technicians are looking to facilitate a brute force attack, but need specialized software capable of bypassing iOS 9's passcode counter.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took immediate action, vowing to fight government calls for privileged hardware access in a letter posted to his company's website just hours after the order came down. For Cook, the issue has implications far beyond a single iPhone, an argument floated by the White House on Wednesday.
Comments
and the world is a better place with him in it. well maybe not better, but definitely more interesting.
I guess he isn't going to their nominee for to long if he takes on this quest.
(in the title)
Hey, good luck with that, John.
Also, how are these highly paid, tattooed, pot smoking geniuses working for half a mil a year going to "social engineer" this, when the guy who chose the passcode is dead? Are they going to do a seance?
McAfee is an out-of-control nutcase, but we knew that didn't we?
He is speaking of using social engineering to figure out what the passcode is for the now expired user; like in the movies where they figure it out in 30 seconds. Only he and his crew won't be able to figure it out, and they would brick the phone.
The government wants to expand their surveillance into iOS devices, which is unconstitutional and a threat to our right to privacy.
Meanwhile, the real bad guys can and will simply use 3rd party encryption tools.
And the government would still be in the dark about who they are contacting and what they are saying.