FBI Able to Hack San Bernadino Shooters iPhone

So if they can hack one phone… they can hack them all right? Or is this just disinformation leading us to believe our data is secure from them or anyone else with a 'key'.

Thats the part that bugs me. Back when, before everyday encryption was common place, data was kept in files locked away behind secure doors with locks on them, right? If you want access you had to break in. I knew a locksmith once, he and I used to do some flea market business. Whenever I found old locks or keys he would by them to add to his collection.

He used to tell me that there was no lock the gubment couldn't open. They always had a master key to whatever locks were out there, the law required manufactures to present the government with a master key or they weren't allowed to market the lock.

Just thought I'd lay that out there. People think their stuff is secure and it isn't, ultimately. Or it is till they want it, whichever.

The Israeli company Cellebrite was paid over $15,000.00 to unlock it.

The kicker is that Apple asked the court to make the FBI disclose how it was unlocked.

Typically, the FBI will do that if they find new security issues. They usually give details to manufacturers.

However, if the FBI classifies it...they don't have to tell Apple.

Apple even works with Cellebrite...so, I guess the next business meeting between them will be...awkward.

You can't hide, everything gets written down.

Let's just be real. You don't even need an organization to hack consumer electronics. Thousands of individuals have this ability.

The story was to promote Apple sales because 'they will protect you' when the reality is "it can be unlocked with only one finger".

Didn't I tell ya'll this was nothing but a "fishing expedition"? They were simply trying to gauge public opinion. If Apple said yes, that would be a double win for the FBI.

The FBI never intended to take this to the Supreme Court, it would bring way, WAY to much attention to domestic spying.

No..the FBI had the ability all along. I mean, it's the friggen FBI. If the FBI/NSA/CIA doesn't have undercover assets embedded INSIDE Apple, I'd be shocked. Well, more like disappointed. If they don't, they should put me in charge because apparently I'm the only one with good ideas.

I keep waiting for the job offers to work at Area 51 with the alien technology ... or at the very least to become the next Jack Ryan.

a reply to: FamCore

Well of course!

Is there anyone that really believes a consumer level piece of mass produced technology aimed at the masses is hack proof? And hack proof to the authorities at that?

Really?

Ignorance may well be bliss, but to imagine any consumer level tech is going to be beyond the scope of the FBI or any other resource rich agency, is actually delusional, not ignorance.

originally posted by: FamCore
a reply to: lovebeck
it was all semantics and the GOV in bed with Apple,

yeah, I agree! No chance in hell the government tech people cant open up an iPhone. There's also a close relationship between Apple and the government, yet they pretend like they never talk!

Aaaaaand how many FBI employees use iPhones?

Objective 1: Demonize Encryption as a facilitator of evil.

Objective 2: Convince people that the NSA dont have 30,000 people and a multi billion dollar budget that allows them to emulate almost any hardware/software environment in the "lab" therefore bypassing conventional anti brute forcing controls.

Objective 3: Frame third party (watch their value rise) whilst secretly changing surveillance powers in Fisa court: www.theguardian.com...

There is no reason for the FBI to hack the phone.

Have we all already forgotton that every electronic transmission within,into and out of the US recorded and stored in the facility in Dokota is it.

By christ people have short memories. All the FBI is doing here is training people up, and successfully so it seems, to believe the only way they can eavesdrop on hour conversation is pull the phone apart?

The FBI is simply training people up to forget about the current capability to record 100 years worth of electronic conversations

Come on you people, your not so easily influenced as that are you??????????????????????????????????????????????????? this is just absolutely unbelievable that you people have fallen for this. You have been played for fools and deservedly so it would appear if you believe the FBI has to pull a bloody phone part to yank out the conversation recording. far out.

originally posted by: Azureblue
There is no reason for the FBI to hack the phone.

Have we all already forgotton that every electronic transmission within,into and out of the US recorded and stored in the facility in Dokota is it.

By christ people have short memories. All the FBI is doing here is training people up, and successfully so it seems, to believe the only way they can eavesdrop on hour conversation is pull the phone apart?

The FBI is simply training people up to forget about the current capability to record 100 years worth of electronic conversations

Come on you people, your not so easily influenced as that are you??????????????????????????????????????????????????? this is just absolutely unbelievable that you people have fallen for this. You have been played for fools and deservedly so it would appear if you believe the FBI has to pull a bloody phone part to yank out the conversation recording. far out.

Finally someone else who gets it. The whole thing was a crock from the start. We have known for years that everything is monitored, saved and easily accessed when needed. We have been told the names of the agencies and the names of the programs those agencies use. We also know that every communication is still somewhere. Forget even the facility that stores this stuff. All you need to do as law enforcement and especially the FBI is contact the internet company or in this case the cell service provider. They have your texts, emails and every other for m of communication. Simple. This is all common knowledge and the fact that this is even a national discussion, the fact that there is a thread on this site if all places, shows how stupid and gullible people are and have become. Pathetic

This was smoke and mirrors. Make Apple, who has given up info in the past, lol good. Make people who use these products feel safe and that they have some sense of privacy. And make it look like our govt agencies don have the ability that they do to get to all our info whenever they want. They figure the easiest way to gain the public's sympathy is to say the are doing it to prevent terrorism. They already had this info. But apparently this worked on alot of sad people so it's mission accomplished for them it seems. Apple looks like a freedom fighter, FBI and govt look less capable and the public falls for it. Good job folks. I do however think this was done more to trick the terrorists they are safe than it was to trick the general public.

a reply to: lovebeck
So, by contracting Cellebrite (an Israeli mobile forensics company) to hack this phone, the FBI is continuing to maintain the absurd facade that there was nobody in any govt. agency in the US that they could ask to do this for them.

Nobody? No-one within the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, DoD, or any other agency, with their many thousands of staff with computer tech qualifications? They would seriously have us believe that they needed to spend US taxpayers' money to get a foreign company to hack a mass-produced iPhone? A little country like Israel has a company that can do it, but no similar company in America knows how?

Does anyone really believe this? Not on ATS, I hope!

Seems to me that this was a test run. The FBI and some of TPTB wanted a court ruling that basically said a manufacturer can be ordered to create technology to help LE agencies (or whatever agency). I don't really believe that Apple actually needed to write new code, though that was their claim and the basis of their refusal. It seems ridiculous that they wouldn't already have whatever they needed to hack into their own darned product.

Anyway, when it became apparent to the FBI and the DoJ that Apple would fight this hard, then getting that court ruling in their favor looked less likely and so -- they bailed out. Got Cellebrite to hack the phone and got the info from it.

What next? The FBI et al will now have to sit back and wait for the next opportunity. An even worse mass murder/terrorist attack with a surviving, usable phone or encrypted computer drive, that they can then use to go through the "We can't hack into it!" process again.

I guess next time the FBI and DoJ might act faster, so "public pressure" on the device's manufacturer could be greater and either make them cave in or not fight so hard if it goes up through the courts.

Bottom line: obviously, this is not about trying to hack a darned iPhone. It's about using force of law to make companies do whatever they demand. Well, that's how I see it, anyway.

originally posted by: Krakatoa
a reply to: neomaximus10

You don't even need to use a physical chip. No flaky single memory chip to deal with once its in the emulator and you store a baseline backup. Just load it into an emulator in a VM. All you do is refresh the VM each time the device locks after failed attempts. Automate the process and press the button....let it spin until it unlocks.

Not rocket science folks, just industry standard Software Development/QA testing tools.

FBI = Fails Being Innovative

I take it you are familiar with this field? Lol. It's like pig Latin to me!

My daughter is going to school this fall for "computers" she said something about code...

This is to set a precedent as the government says :
US says it would use “court system” again to defeat encryption.

And just last week, James Comey, the FBI director, said his fight with Apple wasn't about setting precedent; rather, it was about battling terrorism.

But it seems that the storyline has changed.

The Justice Department now says it will not hesitate to invoke the precedent it won in its iPhone unlocking case.

NSA and other alphabet agencies can access the contents, but the issue here is that it can't be used in a court. Going with the Israeli company is above the law i guess. Then again, war on terror is the catch phrase to get ride of the law of the land.

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Apple could have maintained the mystique and bragging rights of being unbreakable if only they cooperated in investigating muslim terrorist murderers.

Now it will be widely known their security can be defeated.

It's already widely known by anyone with knowledge.

I believe the third party was the NSA even though others were named.

Because to US government does not want to let out the NSA security tricks.

If it was not the NSA the NSA now knows how and now no one is safe.

The Feds basically think that most people won't notice the extra bits and pieces surrounding encryption. And unless more people start paying more attention, they may just get their way.

It was never about one phone or terrorism:

The US Justice Department is looking to file a court order to force Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone that was obtained as part of a New York drug dealing case, it has been reported on 9 April. The move follows a recent attempt in March to force the tech giant to crack an iPhone used by a terrorist in the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino, California.

www.ibtimes.co.uk...

news.sky.com...