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Apple/FBI: San Bernardino District Attorney strangely claims suspect’s iPhone contains a ‘cyber pathogen’

iPhone passcode

Although tech companies are joining Apple’s camp en masse for the Apple/FBI court battle due to commence on March 22nd, there are many amicus briefs being posted in favour of the FBI’s argument. One of these was filed last Thursday night by the San Bernardino District Attorney, Michael Ramos. In the document, he claims that the shooter’s iPhone (which the FBI wants Apple to make a backdoor unlock for) could contain evidence that it is a digital weapon — containing a ‘cyber pathogen’ that would exploit San Bernardino infrastructure.

It’s the first time someone has implied what might actually be of interest on the phone. However, whilst the idea of a ‘cyber pathogen’ sounds scary, it really doesn’t make any sense. On his blog, iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski explains these terms have no technical substance and even if you read between the lines to decipher the comment, it is very difficult to get any sensible meaning whatsoever.

Viruses aren’t biological, they don’t just live dormant inside a phone. They have to be used, activated or deployed. Zdziarski says he thinks the District Attorney is trying to claim that the shooter was trying to compromise the local San Bernardino IT network with a virus of some kind, but the language used in the filing is just factually incorrect and likely misleading to the court. There is also seemingly no other evidence that would lead investigator’s to believe such a claim.

If a serious computer virus did exist on the device with the phone acting as a host of some kind, then the device would have to be jailbroken anyway. This is clearly not the case as otherwise the Apple/FBI iPhone unlock court fiasco would not be necessary.

The iPhone does not allow for PF_INET and SOCK_RAW, or other kinds of low level packets, to be used from within the app sandbox. It’s unlikely that Fagan knows this, however, and so his dramatic statements are actually damaging the FBI’s case, because the device would likely have to be jailbroken. Apple’s sandbox will simply not allow an application to abuse the network stack in such a way that would make a “cyber pathogen” feasible. The kind of dramatic network attack that the DA is trying to sell to Judge Pym would have to be big. Popular ports such as metasploit require a jailbroken device to work for this (and other) reasons, and any tool to inject something this serious would need the same.

If this filing is meant as a scaremongering tactic to sway court feeling towards the FBI argument, then it’s not a great one: any inspection by an expert reveals the blatant weaknesses in the argument. It could also be the honest opinion of someone who is simply not educated in technology, in which case it will also likely get disregarded once Apple’s lawyers get a chance to comment in court.

The Apple/FBI court fight begins on March 22nd, a day after Apple’s rumored media event where the company will unveil a new 4-inch iPhone, a 9.7 inch iPad Pro and an Apple Watch refresh. Tech companies including Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Microsoft and Dropbox have all submitted amicus briefs defending Apple’s position. Apple is keeping a complete list of filings that support Apple’s argument on its website.

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Comments

  1. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    Try harder, FBI.

    • Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 8 years ago

      They probably have a list of excuses that they are going through just to see what will pass. :-) They might have to start changing the meaning of words, that might work. :-)

  2. 89p13 - 8 years ago

    More of the government bullying – now with full blown FUD!

    And, I fear, the sheeples that listen to the media will hear this, believe this and fear that this “Unknown Cyber Pathogen” will be the end of Apple Pie, The Girl Next Door and A Mother’s Love! “Who does Tim Cook think he is? If I’m elected President, I’ll make Apple build phones in the US of A!”

    I only wish 9to5 had a :doh: emoji.

  3. Next: claim that the phone contains an evil spirit.

  4. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    lies, lyes, damn lyes.
    Next, the phone has a nuclear weapon.

    • quitesharp - 8 years ago

      The iPhone – the true Weapon of Mass Destruction?

      • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

        correct

      • r00fus1 - 8 years ago

        For someone like me who keeps having their training class attendees keep looking down to their iPhones – it’s more of a Weapon of Mass Distraction.

  5. givemethedaily - 8 years ago

    Well, I am afraid terrorists from the future have traveled back to infect this phone with SkyNET. DON’T let SkyNET out, destroy the phone! Why not go the opposite way and tell this guy he is right and the phone is TOO dangerous to examine, and must be Destroyed. You WIN San Bernardino District Attorney, we will destroy the phone.

  6. cameroncovington - 8 years ago

    Evernote has come out in favor of Apple as well.

  7. carterwgills - 8 years ago

    I love reading the comments on other websites, they tend to go something like: “Tim Cook is unamerican, who does he think he is?” Well he’s the guy protecting your constitutional right to privacy. And all of these right wing candidates, who supposedly hold the constitution so dearly, are so quick to want to take away your constitutional rights.

    • Jake Becker - 8 years ago

      Gotta love big fat patriotism..the thing that “saves” freedom from itself. If slavery was still legal they’d support that too.

      • r00fus1 - 8 years ago

        There are pro-slavery folks still around. You’ll find them in the white-pride aisle of the Super-Patriot market.

  8. Joe Mizereck - 8 years ago

    http://www.Boycott-Apple.com For once, do what is in the best interest of America, not what’s in the best interest of Apple.

  9. BeardMan (@BeardMan7) - 8 years ago

    Is this a new episode of The X-Files? Mulder and Scully need to investigate this case immediately.

  10. Doug Aalseth - 8 years ago

    Is there any evidence that the idiots did any programming, of any kind, ever? Have they checked any jump drives from around the house first? That would be a beastly more effective vector for Malware. Honestly it’s far easier to get a package off a jump drive than an iPhone, especially one that is managed by the IT department.

    The DA just pulled this out of his @$$ and hoped people are too stupid to realize how dumb an idea it is.

  11. Marc Orcutt - 8 years ago

    It could contain any number of things, but that is irrelevant as you’re not going to get access to it anymore than if the shooters had destroyed the phone. I’m hearing Hillary in my head saying, “What difference does all of this make now?”.

  12. I suspected as much. Now for the cure… the government intervention vaccine. Some side effects have been reported.

  13. John Smith - 8 years ago

    Sounds like hokum.

    But don’t forget, Apple has made claims that a modified version of IOS – put onto one phone by Apple themselves, with no identified mechanism for it to spread to anywhere else – would be equivalent of ‘cancer.’

    So if the cops can invent “cyber pathogen” I guess that’s tit for tat for Apple’s “cyber cancer”

  14. And yes the HIV virus was constructed by the CIA and Ebola by the Mossad.

    I think everybody should check the darknet for some decrytion tool, and just format all governmental and secret services databases worldwide.
    Not one of the bigger terrorist plots was avoided with all this ill mass surveillance.
    Even Bin Laden could hide for years and escaped the US troops in Afghanistan (Tora Bora) on a donkey.

    Didn’t you notice that every time there’s a terrorist attack, afterwards the secret services always say “Yes we had infos, but couldn’t tell anybody!” If that’s really the case, why are there still attacks? It’s just too much informations for humans to understand and the Ai computers don’t check it either.

    The solutions is very easy: “just stop building any kind of guns and weapons, worldwide. Use the saved billions of $ and € to educate all people worldwide and give them healthcare.”

    But apparentyl we humans are made to destruct ourselves.

    And if a company like Apple has too much power and money, it has to be doomed too.

  15. FBI: That iPhone is actually a compact nuclear bomb, and we need to break into the iPhone to defuse the bomb, otherwise the entire west coast will be destroyed… Yeah… That’s the ticket! 😉

  16. Isn’t unleashing a “dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino’s infrastructure” a great reason NOT to unlock the phone?

  17. so say this “cyber pathogen” is true. (I know it’s not, but the FBI thinks it is) They seriously want to unlock it, won’t that spread the “pathogen”? I mean have you even seen movies depicting airborne or waterborne illnesses. if they cut up a dead body, or leave them rotting out, the pathogen infects more people.

    This is another, silly claim by the FBI in order to gain access to the iPhone, but it should remain locked forever.

  18. Don Wise (@doncwise) - 8 years ago

    I just watched the local evening news here in California; this same district attorney strongly believes there’s evidence on the phone that points to a third shooter. Nothing else to corroborate his thinking is provided, you know, like facts.

    So, this story and his related comments lead me to believe that this is a non-news event and he just needs to go back to his desk and stop trying to make a name for himself.

  19. Mark Granger - 8 years ago

    I hope the cyber pathogen does not get into the Internet tubes. They should keep that phone locked just to be safe.

  20. Luca (@Ipnotik71) - 8 years ago

    Sir, what you have in your iPhone is what we refer to as a focused, non-terminal, repeating phantasm, or a Class Five full roaming vapor. Real nasty one, too!
    Who you gonna call?

  21. Ian Campbell - 8 years ago

    All this noise when there’s a backdoor in there already. On the lock screen press and hold the home button for Siri, ask what time it is, touch the clock symbol it’ll open the clock app then select the timer, select the alarm when the timer ends, select buy more tones which will take you to the iTunes store then press the home button and your in.

  22. oplix (@oplix) - 8 years ago

    This is the real life parody of the Dark Knight where Wayne builds a spying network using people’s cell phones to track a “terrorist”.

  23. Veðrfölnir - 8 years ago

    Well, thank god the phone is locked then. Wouldn’t want that cyber pathogen spreading now would we? To be extra safe, they should put the iPhone in a faraday cage and wear tinfoil hats.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.