Facing challenges from FBI, Apple vows to strengthen encryption even further

Posted:
in iPhone
Should it successfully refuse a court order to help the FBI unlock Syed Farook's iPhone, Apple will continue to strengthen its encryption, a report said on Wednesday, citing an anonymous Apple executive.




An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the record to Reuters, and wouldn't say how Apple might make improvements. But they did suggest that Apple plans to strengthen its encryption, particularly if it wins its ongoing dispute with the U.S. government.

Two other sources within the company, however, stated that Apple doesn't intend to take things to an extreme where it can't access any device data whatsoever. Reuters used the analogy of cloud storage provider Box, which aims for a "zero-knowledge state" about customer data.

iOS 8 and 9 already offer full-disk encryption, which Apple claims is so tough that it can't supply a key, even when served with a warrant. The FBI is taking a different tack -- asking Apple not to unlock Farook's iPhone directly, but to supply a way of disabling the passcode retry limit so investigators can brute-force access. With the limit on, Farook's device is set to automatically erase itself after a set number of failed attempts.

Apple has maintained that if it offers a means around the retry limit, that would compromise iOS security for everyone. The FBI could in theory reuse the code to gain access to any other iOS device, with or without a warrant, and share it with other organizations like the National Security Agency. The FBI has said that its interest is only in Farook's phone.

On the legal front, Apple is expected to call for protection under the First Amendment with the claim that computer code is speech. Under that view, by forcing Apple to write software against its will, the FBI could be seen as trying to compel speech.
calironn
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    edited February 2016 singularityprox
  • Reply 2 of 48
    Just remove the DFU mode and replace the bricked devices instead of DFU...
  • Reply 3 of 48
    proxprox Posts: 15member
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
  • Reply 4 of 48
    msantti said:

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.

    With our deliberately-open borders, deliberately-lax visa enforcement, and deliberately-protected sanctuary cities, terrorists also know the US government has their backs.
    ewtheckmanzebracalibuzdotsmike1baconstanganantksundaramuraharaSpamSandwichjbdragon
  • Reply 5 of 48
    The terrorist phone of the 21th century.
  • Reply 6 of 48
    I bet that iPhone 7 firmware will wipe memory if it is started in Device Firmware Update mode, or Recovery Mode without a password. And Apple might apply this update to existing iPhones (not certain if that's possible, but I suspect it is).
  • Reply 7 of 48
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    msantti said:

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.

    With our deliberately-open borders, deliberately-lax visa enforcement, and deliberately-protected sanctuary cities, terrorists also know the US government has their backs.
    Absolutely. Its what our dear leader wants.
    jbdragon
  • Reply 8 of 48
    This actually makes me like Apple for once. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Ben Franklin
    mike1londorbaconstangration alstskkibitzeranantksundaramuraharalatifbpdiplication
  • Reply 9 of 48
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    prox said:
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
    I roasted your moronic a** already. DO YOUR RESEARCH instead of spreading lies that the media wants dumb people to believe.

    This actually makes me like Apple for once. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Ben Franklin
    "FOR ONCE". It's irritating how people act like Apple started caring about privacy 2 weeks ago. This is old news buddy.BobLong said:
    The terrorist phone of the 21th century.
    The uninformed idiot 1-posters attack!
    punkndrubliclondorchiaicoco3baconstangjahbladepjwilkinration alstskericthehalfbee
  • Reply 10 of 48
    msantti said:

    With our deliberately-open borders, deliberately-lax visa enforcement, and deliberately-protected sanctuary cities, terrorists also know the US government has their backs.
    Absolutely. Its what our Fearful leader wants.
    Fixed that for ya'   :D
    ration al
  • Reply 11 of 48
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    prox said:
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
    So George W. Bush and Dick Cheney can sleep safely eh?  Oh and your keys are  sticky, sic "iPhoe", "phon"... not that we're judging.... ice it is!
  • Reply 12 of 48
    sandorsandor Posts: 655member
    msantti said:

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.

    With our deliberately-open borders, deliberately-lax visa enforcement, and deliberately-protected sanctuary cities, terrorists also know the US government has their backs.
    And with unmanned drones killing innocent civilians, perhaps we need to remember the terrorism the US is invoking in other sovereign states. 
    political & economic power via mass casualties.
    except in the 21st century they cannot hide it from us.


    Sing a hymn for the dead
    Because in death as in life
    we are one in the same
    Sing a hymn for the world
    To avert eugenic errors

    edited February 2016 punkndrubliclondorai46ronn
  • Reply 13 of 48
    metrixmetrix Posts: 256member
    prox said:
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
    I can play too. Samsung is gathering intelligence from US government employees in cooperation with North Korea.
    londorchiaicoco3jahblademagman1979
  • Reply 14 of 48
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Finally gave me enough reason to block your idiotic comments.
    londoricoco3jahbladeJanNLmagman1979anantksundaramlatifbpnouser
  • Reply 15 of 48
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Finally gave me enough reason to block your idiotic comments.
    Well, its fact. Deal with it.

    Apple does ot want to cough up the info. And thats that.
    edited February 2016
  • Reply 16 of 48
    Anyone who believes this case is about terrorism just isn't paying attention. The FBI doesn't need the contents of this phone - they already have a few-weeks-old version and it's most unlikely that there's anything of substance to be had. remember - this is a work-supplied phone, not his personal one. That was thoroughly destroyed. Is it likely he put incriminating details on his work phone rather than the personal one? No. The two shooters are dead, so no more charges there. The police and FBI have already established that they were not part of a bigger terrorist cell, or a network of cells, although some people have been charged with non-terrorist offenses. Nor were they under the control of or affiliated with any foreign group. So what's the big upside for the FBI to get this data? None, for this specific case. What it is is the test case to force Apple ro build the tool for them to use in the other nine pending case (yes - despite FBI Director's comments that this is for one case only, there are at least nine others that have been filed). None of these are terrorism-related, by the way. And the New York DA says that he has 175 iPhones that he wants Apple to unlock. So, we all see where this is going and it is not to a good place. Of course, the biggest supporters of the FBI here are China, India, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states with repressive regimes. They will most certainly push on Apple for this tool if it is ever built. That is why it is important that it never is.
    baconstangJanNLration alfastasleepstskkibitzerlostkiwipatchythepirateronnmagman1979
  • Reply 17 of 48
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    This actually makes me like Apple for once. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Ben Franklin
    You registered on, and post on a site called "Apple Insider", yet you admit this is the first thing you ever like about Apple. Thanks for confirming to us that you're a troll. As for Prox and Msantii, you two are pathetic, really.
    jahbladeai46JanNLfotoformatstskpscooter63lostkiwironnmagman1979urahara
  • Reply 18 of 48
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    prox said:
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
    You were debunked thoroughly yesterday.  Didn't you learn anything??
    ration alstskmagman1979anantksundaramuraharadoozydozennouser
  • Reply 19 of 48
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    prox said:
    msantti said:
    The iPhoe is quickly becoming the terrorists phon of choice.

    Tim Cook is going to see a ice little spike in sales.

    Terrorists now know that Apple has their back.
    Apple will continue to allow the Chinese government access but will happily protect a person who kills Americans.
    You've been called out on this blatant lie repeatedly by dozens of people, yet you keep repeating it like the little liar you are. No words.
    pjwilkinai46ration alstsklostkiwipatchythepiratemagman1979uraharadoozydozennouser
  • Reply 20 of 48
    I think Apple has already caved. All the bluster by Tim Cook is window dressing to keep the fan base happy and so they'll keep buying Apple products in the mistaken belief that what they store on their iPhones and at iCloud is secure and confidential. After all, Apple Computer is a corporation, and corporations are creatures of and beholden to the government.
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