You may have seen the FBI have now said they have successfully unlocked the iphone of the murderer they are investigating.
I find it interesting and a big part of me is suspicious as to whether they managed to do it alone or if Apple did actually help them but agreed to make it seem like they wouldn’t help.
Would seem win/win to me. Apple saves face and the FBI gets what they want.
what do you reckon?
Corporations do tend to say one thing to the public then turn around and do the opposite. Did Apple help out the FBI in the end? We may never know.
My opinion on the matter is this, why did the DOJ drop the lawsuit? Feels like Apple might have made a deal. Then again, I use Android and with Google rep (and the Army field testing android as a tool), I’m sure the GOV already has the ability to get into my phone if they wanted.
Meh, got nothing to hide then it doesn’t matter in the end.
There were several groups who thought they’d be able to end up cracking it, so I’m leaning towards someone else doing it.
I think the guy that owns McAfee was one of the primary ones who was sure his team could get through, which kind of makes sense - use a virus to get through…
A few articles I read mentioned that a 3rd party was the ones in contact with the FBI.
I doubt Apple would have staged the tough-guy attitude, all the legal fees, etc, only to be two-faced.
I agree.
It does demonstrate though that Apple now need to massively increase the security measures that they apply - this phone was accessed far too easily for the security to be good enough for future use.
I was under the impression a software company from Israel helped and most likely gained access.
A part of me is suspicious as to whether they did it at all. Where’s the proof they actually did crack it open? I don’t believe it yet.
If they did crack it, it’s probably just because the owner used a 4-digit passcode. The phone now urges users to use 6 digits or even a custom alphanumeric password—which no doubt would have been much harder to break.
With this particular model, Is there anything traumatic happens to the data after about a dozen failed access attempts?
As I understand it, after about 10 failed attempts the device’s data gets erased.
As I I understand it, after about 10 failed attempts the device’s data gets erased.
Is that when the decryption company says “Sorry, there will be no charge”
There’s always a charge. 
well that’s the reason i would think they would possibly stage that. You wouldn’t want all your customers to think you’d just roll over whenever the government wants to have a look at your customers data. Put on a little media show and nobody loses face.
As above i don’t have anything on my phone that i wouldn’t want the government to see so i don’t really care if the government can have a look. Obviously don’t want a virus to get in but i doubt most virus creators have supercomputers.
Probably more worried about apple having my data to be honest
What benefit would Apple have to purposefully break all of their security that they worked so hard to build? Building that backdoor would essentially create a master key for anyone who could get their hands on it.
Yeah, Apple didn’t do it. Now they’re trying to figure out how it was done.
Meh, got nothing to hide then it doesn’t matter in the end.
That’s exactly the mindset that we need to combat, though. I’ll have to finish my blog on this topic and get it posted sometime…
It does demonstrate though that Apple now need to massively increase the security measures that they apply - this phone was accessed far too easily for the security to be good enough for future use.
Was it, though? It took the United States federal government a decently long time to get in. That’s a pretty high bar when you consider that most of us need security against petty thieves for a matter of a few days after a theft, or the like.
As I understand it, after about 10 failed attempts the device’s data gets erased.
You can toggle a setting on for that I think, but it’s not the default. The problem the FBI was having was that you can’t brute force the thing efficiently when it keeps locking you out after so many attempts, and you have to wait for a time. That makes it incredibly annoying to brute force - that was their real issue.
Because when the American government come and ask you to do something it’s often best to say yes we’ll do that. Especially when they sit you in a room with a chap in a dark grey suit and he points out that they could make life very difficult for the multi billion dollar company you happen to be running. Hey Apple looks a bit like you are running a monopoly maybe under anti competition laws it would be better if you were split into different companies after of course all of your accounts have been audited. Maybe we should go over all of your employees histories, starting with you? Oh you’ll help us with our request, many thanks.
we’ll never know for sure what happened, same as most things at that level i guess.
Perhaps i watch too many films but there are many people in high places who somehow manage to get what they want when they want it. Just have to shake the right persons hand and keep paying them off.
p.s. my tin foil hat stops the government reading my thoughts
Yeah… that’d never happen either though, and Tim Cook isn’t an idiot enough to fall for that kind of bullying. There is definitely no monopoly there… and that’d be a years-long court battle anyway… and what’s that even mean, going over employee histories? lol.
Perhaps so 
Also very true. Unfortunate, and true. But I wouldn’t call US fedgov employees the people in high places, I’d call people like Tim Cook the people in high places. $$$$$$
You need an upgraded system. I hear there’s an implant that the NSA sells that claims to shield your thoughts from outside interference…
It’s one think if you don’t care about the government accessing your stuff, but if there is a security hole, it may be exploited by criminals too. Then it’s not so much a case of if you are up to anything shady, but what they can get from you, like access to your on-line banking or whatever.
Yeah, excellent point. Once the exploit is out there, it’s not just the government to worry about.
Yup, in this case I completely agree with you.
If you look at it a different way though would apple (or anyone else) build an encryption system that they themselves are not able to crack/control? It might not be easy to do but wouldn’t they know how to do it if they needed to?