“The FBI might be able to copy the hard drive of an iPhone used by a mass shooter without triggering the device’s auto-erase functions, thus eliminating the agency’s need to take Apple to court, a company executive said Tuesday,” Grant Gross reports for IDG News Service. “Instead of forcing Apple to help defeat the iPhone password security that erases the device’s contents after 10 unsuccessful attempts, it may be possible to make hundreds of copies of the hard drive, said Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel.”
“Apple doesn’t know the condition of the iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, so it’s unclear if mirroring the hard drive would work, but it’s possible, Sewell said during a congressional hearing,” Gross reports. “The suggestion that the FBI attempt to copy the iPhone’s hard drive first came from Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and former car-alarm entrepreneur.”
“The design of the older model iPhone 5c may allow investigators to remove its hard drive and make multiple copies, Issa said. Investigators could then run 10 password attempts on each copy until they found the correct password, he said,” Gross reports. “‘The FBI is the premier law enforcement organization, with laboratories that are second to none in the world,’ Issa told FBI Director James Comey. ‘Are you testifying today that you and/or contractors that you employ could not achieve this without demanding that an unwilling partner do it?’ The FBI has explored other options and found none that it believes will work without Apple’s assistance in defeating the password protection, Comey said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Comey’s lack of credibility intensifies every time he opens his mouth.
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