Issue 1404 59
FBI VS APPLE
possibilities, but you only get ten chances to guess right before
what’s on that phone is lost forever.
But surely that’s not a problem, because the phone backs
itself up to Apple’s own cloud services, and Apple does have
access to that, so you can buy a new phone and then have all
your data magically appear on your new device!
Given this basic information, which even I understand, and
I’ve never owned an iPhone, surely all the data on that phone
should be sitting in the inbox of the lead FBI agent on this case
by now? It isn’t, so why is that?
When the FBI first got hold of the phone, it contacted Apple
and explained its dilemma. Apple told it that the phone would
back itself up as soon as it was brought near a wi-fi access point
that it had previously used. Apple suggested to the FBI that it
take the phone to Farook’s house and use the wi-fi there.
Unfortunately, the FBI had already swooped on that location
and taken all the equipment away, undermining the investigation.
Apple suggested instead that they take it to his place of work
and get it to sync there. But magically by the time it got there, it
was stuffed. How did that happen?
Someone at the San Bernardino Health Department took it
upon themselves, as the ‘owner’ to send areset request to the
phone’s iCloud password.
Once this was done, the phone wouldn’t sync, as it didn’t
have a verified password until a new one was created, and to do
that you’d need the pass number to unlock the phone to enter
that new password creation cycle.
Why would someone do something so stupid?Well, according
to a tweet that the San Bernardino County sent out, “The
county was working cooperatively with the FBI when itreset the
iCloud password at the FBI’srequest.”
Eh? So the FBI told these people to do something that
stymied the case, and now it’s all Apple’s fault, because it won’t
spend millions and use its best people to undo what was done?
That’s like the FBI taking
a pile of ashes that was
once a book to a forensic
scientist and demanding to
know what was on it, having
previously set it on fire.FinalThoughts
When events like these
unfold, we’re given a rather stark choice between the cock-
up theory or the failure-by-design option. Neither in this case
paints the FBI in a very good light, because its either quite
inept or conspiring to get encryptionremoved from phones by
nefarious means.
Assuming that it’s inept, which is probably the nicer option of
the two, I’m very curious about why it didn’t just ring its buddies
at the NSA or CIA and ask them what they do when they want
data off an iPhone?
Surely they have a method that works for them, or do
terrorists only need encrypted phones to be untouchable?I
think not.
Perhaps they were too embarrassed to call. Whatever the
reason, security services in the USA in general have been trying
to get encryption outlawed in the USA (and therest of the
world) for some time.
The general view is that it would be easier for them if it didn’t
exist and, oddly, organised crime is fully with them on this point.
There is also some evidence that this wasn’t entirely a cock-
up. In the court paper that the FBI issued when it went aftera
Motion to Compel, itrevealed that although it told everyone
that the house Farook lived in had been fully processed, it now
turns out it wasn’t.
The suspicion that is most obvious is that the FBI knows
enough about Farook and his partner to know that there is very
little on his iPhone that they don’t already know, and that the
entire purpose of making this mess was to corner Apple into
doing something it’srepeatedlyresisted.
Apple isn’t likely to give up its security bone, because telling
everyone that there is a special FBI backdoor is effectively the
same as saying that their phones have no security.
Given the number of legal levels we have to go through
before we get to the Supreme Court, this could take some time- unless a crazy person becomes US president and uses executive
powers to compel Apple to do the government’s bidding.
Should that happen, the market for Apple products could take
a sudden dip, especially outside the USA.mm
Telling everyone that
there’s a special FBI backdoor
is effectively the same as
saying that their phones have
no security