“Apple will not pursue legal action against the US government to discover how federal agents broke into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters,” Zack Whittaker reports for ZDNet.
“Attorneys for Apple speaking on background during a media briefing call on Friday said that it believed the method used to unlock the iPhone 5c would be short lived,” Whittaker reports. “It follows similar comments by FBI director James Comey who said in a speech on Thursday that the hack used to unlock the encrypted phone works on a ‘narrow slice’ of devices.”
“The FBI’s hack in the San Bernardino case would not help agents access a newer iPhone 5s used by a drug dealer in New York, where Apple faces a similar case against the government,” Whittaker reports. “But Apple attorneys said that there was a “healthy amount of skepticism” that the government doesn’t have the ability to use some other method of getting into Feng’s phone. The company said it will be asking the government why it doesn’t believe it can access the phone, and whether or not it has sought the help from external forensic firms.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple fixed the issue in 2013 when they began equipping devices with the Secure Enclave, starting with the iPhone 5s and iPad Mini 2.
The duplicitous FBI should disclose the super duper top secret third party (Cellebrite) and their double-secret method (NAND-mirroring), so that Apple can confirm that it doesn’t work with post-iPhone 5c iPhones (iPhone 5s and later) with Secure Enclaves. — MacDailyNews, April 7, 2016
Even without mentioning Cellebrite or NAND-mirroring, with the FBI director confirming that the hack only works on older iPhones, it’s now quite obvious that Apple’s Secure Enclave is the difference maker.
Apple devices with the Secure Enclave include any device with the Apple A7 chip or later:
• iPhone 5S
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone SE• iPod touch (6th generation)
• iPad Air
• iPad Air 2
• iPad mini 2
• iPad mini 3
• iPad mini 4
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro
• 12.9-inch iPad ProSEE ALSO:
FBI director confirms hack only works on older iPhones that lack Apple’s Secure Enclave – April 7, 2016
Apple shoots for the impossible: An unbreakable iPhone – April 1, 2016
Inside the little-known Japanese firm helping the FBI crack Apple iPhones – April 1, 2016
Here’s how much the FBI is paying Cellebrite for its iPhone hack – March 25, 2016
Meet Cellebrite, the Israeli company reportedly cracking iPhones for the FBI – March 24, 2016
U.S. Senator Wyden pledges to fight limits on encryption – March 31, 2016
Apple’s new challenge: Learning how the U.S. cracked terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Did the FBI just unleash a hacker army on Apple? – March 29, 2016
Apple declares victory in battle with FBI, but the war continues – March 29, 2016
Apple vows to increase security as FBI claims to break into terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
U.S. government drops Apple case after claiming hack of terrorist’s iPhone – March 29, 2016
Meet Cellebrite, the Israeli company reportedly cracking iPhones for the FBI – March 24, 2016
“The company said it will be asking the government why it doesn’t believe it can access the phone, and whether or not it has sought the help from external forensic firms.”
Parasites,
The FBI already has our fingerprints on file if you have ever worked for a bank and many other institutions. To unlock an iPhone all you need is a fingerprint. Is this a giant loophole? Hmmm.
That’s mighty civilized of Apple, hmmm might be viewed as anti-patriotic.
It might be viewed that way by some. Of course, history is replete with similar situations, such as the McCarthy hearings for suspected communists. Time will tell.
I would imagine a subsidiary of Apple owns one of the Cellebrite unlocking/whatever it is devices.
Apple doesn’t need to lawyers for all the defendants will, demand in court the how.
Actually, this makes complete sense. If Apple were to sue the FBI to reveal the hack used to access the data on the San Bernardino terrorist’s phone, any such discovery would have to be publicly revealed as part of the trial protocol. And that is exactly what Apple does not want to have happen, because if such information were to become public, foreign intelligence services and hackers could use this to configure attacks on select iPhones. Not good.
The reason is simple. Apple does not need to know. Because Apple has already fixed whatever weakness existed in the 5C, as the FBI cannot unlock later models.
They don’t need to sue, they already know how it was done and they already fixed it.