The FBI’s campaign against Apple has been called its biggest PR disaster in history, but were its efforts to hack the San Bernardino iPhone worth it? In the FBI’s own words, it’s still too soon to tell.
According to a senior FBI official, the organization won’t reveal what — if anything — it’s learned until it’s finished examining all the data on the handset.
Getting to a point where absolutely no one can hack into your iPhone will be practically impossible, according to Apple engineers who admit no company writes perfect code.
Apple has been criticized by national security officials for making it harder for law enforcement to access much needed information on locked iPhones to solve cases. Now that the FBI has figured out a way to hack the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone the debate has cooled down, but Apple engineers say they want the FBI to divulge their method, for the sake of security.
Having reportedly gained access to the iPhone 5c at the center of the San Bernardino shooting case, the FBI has agreed to use its newfound hacking abilities to aid an Arkansas prosecutor unlock an iPhone and iPod belonging to two teenagers who stand accused of murdering a couple.
The U.S. Department of Justice briefly gained the upper hand over Apple this week when it made it clear that it was in no rush to reveal how it hacked the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooting case — thereby stopping Apple from plugging that particular vulnerability.
However, it seems that Apple’s back in the driving seat after a new report reveals that the Justice Department may be compelled to reveal its hacking methods if it wants to continue with a case asking a New York court to force Apple to unlock a different iPhone handset.
The Department of Justice is unlikely to reveal to Apple exactly how it was able to hack the locked iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, according to a federal law enforcement official.
The FBI’s case against Apple may be over, but the repercussions involved in this battle sure aren’t.
Apple has already made clear its belief that this particular case should never have been brought, and now activist group Fight for the Future — which has played a vocal role in this ongoing story — claims that this will be recorded as the biggest PR disaster in FBI history.
The Justice Department may have dropped its suit against Apple after successfully gaining access to the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, but according to Apple the case should never have been brought to begin with.
In a statement, Apple doubles-down on its beliefs about the importance of user privacy. Check out the company’s words of wisdom below:
The Department of Justice has removed all legal action against Apple after the FBI successfully hacked the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone without assistance from Cupertino.
Apple and the FBI have been fighting a very public legal battle over whether the government can force the iPhone-maker to create a backdoor into iOS. Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly defied a federal court order to deliberately weaken iOS security for millions of users, but it appears that the feds are backing down — at least for now.
Tim Cook is a better leader than U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the best of them all in a new poll ranking the leaders in business, government, philanthropy and the arts.
The mysterious party that is assisting the FBI in its quest to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone 5c may have finally been revealed today, and contrary to previous theories, it’s not the NSA.
Cellebrite, an Israeli tech firm specializing in mobile forensic software, has reportedly offered to help the FBI unlock the iPhone. Citing industry sources, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper says if Cellebrite succeeds, the FBI will no longer need Apple’s help with the case.
Cybersecurity legend John McAfee has denied suggestions that he’s helping the FBI to crack the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino shooting case, but hinted that he knows which party is involved. And, according to McAfee, it’s not good news for Apple.
“Apple and Tim Cook are not going to be happy with what the FBI has come up with,” he told CNBC in an interview. “It’s not worse than a universal master key, but it’s much much easier to get into a phone with it.”
Apple hasn’t done enough to publicly present its side of the current privacy standoff with the FBI, concerning whether or not it should build an iPhone backdoor, claims Andrea “Andy” Cunningham, Steve Jobs’ former publicist.
“I think [Steve] would’ve spent more time framing the issue for the [public] than I think [Apple under Tim Cook has] done so far,” Cunningham says.
The Department of Justice is putting its battle against Apple on hold.
In a new court filing published today, the U.S. government has asked a federal court to vacate the hearing set for Tuesday between Apple and the FBI on whether the company can be legally compelled to write software that would assist the FBI in hacking the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone.
So did the feds finally see the error of their ways when it comes to weakenening iOS security? Not quite. But the government says it may have found a way to hack terrorist Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c without Apple’s assistance.
The FBI was reportedly “stunned” when it first got to see what Apple had planned for iPhone encryption, after it received early access to iOS 8 (where Apple introduced its new, stronger iPhone encryption) so that it could examine how its evidence-gathering techniques would have to change.
The Department of Justice has pulled another surprise on Apple this week by making a last minute request to turn the company’s court appearance on March 22nd with the FBI into an evidentiary hearing.
Apple lawyers told reporters this morning that they were caught-off guard by the last minute request which should have been submitted weeks ago.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to continue fighting ‘the good fight’ for the American people in its war against the federal government over encryption.
Cook sat down for a lengthy interview with Time as part of the magazine’s March 28 cover story on Apple, saying that he’s a “big optimist that we ultimately arrive at the right thing” in the battle between privacy and national security, however the company is prepared for a long and important battle.
The long ranging interview touches on everything from Apple’s case with the FBI, cybersecurity, civil liberties, and even Donald Trump. We read the entire transcript so you don’t have to and pulled out the 11 most revealing bits below:
The FBI will be greeted by protestors when it faces off against Apple at the U.S. District Courthouse in Riverside, CA on March 22nd.
Fight for the Future — the same group that rallied at Apple Stores across the country last month — is organizing another protest against the FBI’s federal court order compelling Apple to weaken security in iOS so the government can hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone 5c.
Apple is doubling down on its beliefs about user privacy, by working on a new encryption method that will mean it can no longer decode user information stored in iCloud.
Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said the FBI threw “all decorum to the winds” in its latest federal court filing, but in the company’s official response today it has vowed it does not “intend to response in kind.”
The iPhone-maker says in its latest filing that the FBI’s claim that it exhausted all viable investigative alternatives is false because it improperly reset the iCloud password before consulting Apple. The company also admits that it didn’t take a public stance on privacy and encryption until the release of iOS 8.
The guy that warned George Bush about an imminent al-Qaida attack before 9/11 is taking Apple’s side in the company’s fight against the FBI over whether it can be compelled to break into the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone.
Richard Clarke, who served as the senior counterterrorism official in the US for nine years, sat down for an interview this morning regarding encryption and the FBI’s efforts to hack the iPhone. Despite FBI Director James Comey’s insistence that the FBI has tried everything, Clarke says all it would take to hack the device is a call to Fort Meade.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a new motion in court today regarding its battle against Apple to compel the iPhone-maker to unlock the iPhone 5c that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.
In the new filing the feds argue that Apple has “deliberately raised technological barriers” on iOS to make it harder for the government and other attackers to hack Apple devices. They also claim that demanding Apple to unlock one iPhone won’t result in a security vulnerability for all users.
Apple is ready to take its fight to protect user privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, says Eddie Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, in a newly-published interview with Spanish-lanugage television channel Univision News.
“We’re willing to take it wherever we have to — and such an important event needs to be settled by the Supreme Court,” Cue said.
As if the United Nation’s support wasn’t enough to show the tide is turning in Apple’s favor in its encryption standoff with the FBI, a newly-published poll suggests that registered U.S. voters are now evenly split over the year’s biggest tech story.
iPhone security has dominated the news for the past couple of weeks, so it’s understandable if you’re worrying about your own iPhone.
Have no fear, though: here are some handy tips to help keep your iPhone secure, from both hackers and the FBI.
Today’s video will walk you through 5 easy-to-do tips that will make your iPhone more secure.
There’s no shortage of possible repercussions to Apple’s current standoff with the FBI, regarding whether or not the company should create a backdoor to help unlock iPhones involved with potential terrorist or criminal cases.
But while Apple (and others) have argued that this represents a damaging blow against privacy, a recently-filed amacus brief in support of Apple by former secure technology company Lavabit has a more direct example of how the FBI’s demands may hurt America: by driving tech companies offshore to avoid having their reputations damaged.