CMA102DL

USA Today and others have reported that there are 1000 of locked devices that the FBI was trying to get access to and were trying to use the Apple case as a precedence to access those phones. Even then, building a custom OS that would enable the government to unlock those phones should never be an option for data security concerns. 

IMHO, I  am  OK  with the FBI keeping  their techniques secret as long as the hack is not related to a security issue that could be exploited by hackers or governments to access and steal information out of millions of iPhones or survey people without them knowing it. The FBI should be able to perform hardware hacks of individual phones if their search is warranted. Having said that, I expect the FBI, NSA or CIA inform the private sector whenever they discover software vulnerabilities that could be exploited for crime. We are now not talking about hardware hacks or hacks that involve 100 devices, but software vulnerabilities that affect millions of computers or devices. And I expect the private sector to never build software backdoors intentionally that could compromise the security of customers. And expect companies (i.e., Apple) to develop more ways (hardware/software) to keep our data secure and stay one step ahead of hackers and shady government spies.

why- said:

I don't know why but I just had the most curious image come to my head. I imagined I was sitting in an old armchair in a burnt-out shack in some dystopian wasteland watching the news on a rabbit-ear telly and this story came on. "BREAKING NEWS: The iPhone has been cracked by the government"

it is well past midnight, so that might have had something to do with it

It is almost midnight here and I am getting sleepy waiting for news of the dormant cyber pathogen. Maybe 2morrow?

msuberly said:

For anyone that thinks is "good news" for Apple, you have it completely backwards. First, the government has complete discretion to extract data from your phone and Apple is powerless to do anything about it. Second, now that the government has succeeded in extracting data, every government on the planet will seek to do the same. 

wait, this is a happy ending here. The Govt was able to "get" the data they were looking for in the phone and Apple did not supply a backdoor. This was likely a hardware hack. There was no backdoor, which means that your data and mine are secure. The Govt. can't leak this. Plus, I expect the FBI to be able to perform a search when warranted.

next time the FBI says it needs Apple, Google, or Samsung help with a phone,  the companies should tell the FBI to try a little harder or ask Cellebrite to help. It is not like the FBI just started doing business with Cellebrite.