Days after the FBI announced that it had successfully unlocked the iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino gunmen last December without Apple’s help, the Associated Press now reports that the FBI has agreed to help unlock another iPhone and an iPod relating to a homicide case in Arkansas.
According to the report, the FBI has agreed to help an Arkansas prosecutor unlock an iPhone and iPod used by two teenagers who have been accused of killing a couple. A judge yesterday agreed to postpone the trial so prosecutors could seek help unlocking the iOS devices. The two teenagers have both pleaded not guilty to the murder.
Specific details are unclear at this point in the Arkansas case. The FBI has not confirmed if the two iOS devices in this case are in any way the same to the iPhone 5c that was successfully unlocked earlier this week or if it will even be using the same method to attempt to unlock the two devices. On Monday, it was reported that the method used by the FBI in the San Bernardino case was only applicable to that one phone, but now it is looking like that might not be the case.
Prosecutors in the Arkansas case have had possession of the iPhone in question since July of last year, but have not gained access. The lawyer of one of the teenagers says that they’re “not concerned about anything on that phone” after being informed of plans to try to gain access to its contents. Furthermore, the other teen in the case is said to have used the iPod to communicate plans relating to the homicide and that their may be evidence on the device.
Given how vocal Apple has been about protecting user data, it’ll be interesting to see how this case plays out and if the FBI is once again able to unlock two different iOS devices without help from the company. But if the devices are entirely different from the iPhone 5c in the San Bernardino case, it could paint an even worse picture for Apple.
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This is all and good for older phones, but you can safely bet that moving forward Apple will be doing a lot more to lock down iOS devices produced in the future.
So you mean to tell me the FBI is actually doing their own investigative work, and assisting State & County law enforcement agencies when they ask for help?
How Un-American! Apple is the one who should be doing all of this! They’re helping murderers and terrorists!!! [/Trump]
“On Monday, it was reported that the method used by the FBI in the San Bernardino case was only applicable to that one phone, but now it is looking like that might not be the case.”
Can you elaborate on this…? I’m not understanding what that means. How could the method only be applicable to just one device…?
At the core of the FauxBI’s case against Apple it argued that requesting Apple to assist wouldn’t create a master key as Apple worried but rather was specific to the iP5c they were attempting to access. Well. Now it appears that they’re attempting to use this same method on other iDevices. Needless to say whatever vulnerability they found shouldn’t cause anyone using a newer device any concern.
The method used earlier this week for the San Bernardino case is believed to be possible because of volatile memory used to store the number of times passcode entry has been attempted. In very basic terms, they could read the contents of this memory, make ten attempts at guessing the passcode, then when the phone locked down for too many incorrect attempts, write that data they copied earlier back onto the memory and have another 10 attempts. Newer phones have non volatile memory where this and other encryption data is stored, it can’t be re-written upon. I don’t believe that this architecture is limited strictly to the 5c, I’d suspect it was that way for devices prior to it as well. I seem to recall the introduction of TouchID issuing in the security centric encryption zone, a separate bit of memory just for this purpose, so PERHAPS the Arkansas devices are pre 5S as well? This is all speculation though as I don’t see anywhere where the phone model in Arkansas is noted.
Reporters invented this notion as they tried to flesh out the story. The original source said no such thing.
The fact is we have no information about the method used or which devices it will work on. We only have speculation, such as the memory mirroring theory. This theory is currently the most plausible one and we see it being regularly presented as fact, but really it is just pure speculation at this point.
Ouch. This is something that Apple tried to stopped and guess now? FBI is back on its track!
Oh yeah, just unlock this ‘one’ iPhone and we will not buzz you again.
Yeah, it could make Apple look at little bad, but you better believe they’re already working a fix for the hack..
Also, the FBI is doing exactly what people feared they’d do if they was able to access an iPhone.. If they could, they’d do it so often that we would just forget an move on to something else, then in 5 years it would be normal for law enforcement to peak in your iPhone to just make sure you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t be doing….
I wonder if the FBI can release jailbreaks for iOS 9.3? But then again Apple will patch it.
Apple will probably see this case as none of their business. They are not being approached to create a back door or do any hacking work for the government in this case, it is nothing like the San Bernardino case.
Apple are not out to defend the privacy of criminal suspects that must be investigated, they are out to defend the privacy and security of their customers as a whole from a government mandated backdoor.
Apple do what they ethically can to assist lawful investigations but they refuse to create a backdoor that gives the government automatic access to everyone and hackers a soft spot to attack.
They will of course want to know about the method the FBI claims to have. They must ensure this exploit is neutralized for the sake of everyone’s security.
‘Just this once’
“See? See? We’re the good guys! Look at us helping solve a murder case. It’s a shame Apple doesn’t care about stuff like this. Such a shame.” – FBI Spindoctors
ha. pretty much
Good news.
FBI is obviously there to assist other law enforcement agencies and is behaving correctly.
Apple is part of the problem, not part of the solution, and an irresponsible corporation of this type cannot be expected to behave correctly.
I have no doubt that Apple will be pulling out all the stops to obstruct this type of investigation in the future – this will further reinforce their image as supporting the rights of criminals. Only the most greedy and irresponsible of corporations would obstruct homicide inquiries in order to promote their products.
You’re just a plain idiot!
“Russian intelligence has discovered an exploit it is using to unlock the iPhones of executives and banking officials in order to gain access to encrypted banking systems and steal large sums of money from ordinary American citizens.”
According to dopey moron John Smith here, “greedy and irresponsible” Apple taking steps to fix this exploit would be a bad thing.
For all the idiots out there that use a 4 digit numerical passcode, on older devices it means they could possibly have access to your device then use howsecureismypassword dot net to see, brute force attacks, which are what they are most likely using, when resetting the part of the memory that would wipe would be bypassed so your code is good for very little time… By changing from a 4 digit code which is about 2 nanoseconds to brute force to a 10 digit code with aplha/numeric makes the change a day to do, but go to 11 digits with capital/small/numeric moves it up to 41 years…! When are people going to realise, there information is only as secure as the password they choose…!!!
Unlock one phone and the FBI thinks they’re now “experts.” Yeah, “Just this one phone” my ass.
Looks like it has started with the government. They will start unlocking all the devices now! This is exactly what Apple did not want and which is why they didn’t help.
Apple’s ‘protect the rights of dead criminals’ marketing policy not only obstructing homicide investigations … also distressing bereaved relatives of decent, honest people who have died:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/31/father-apple-tim-cook-unblock-dead-son-iphone-leonardo-fabbretti
If someone dies, their bank will hand over large sums of money and/or property to surviving relatives, on receipt of proper documentation. This has (obviously) been needed for hundreds of years and is perfectly well understood. They have policies in place to ensure this can happen, whilst still maintaining security. Only Apple is so irresponsible as to deliberately block this normal, responsible business practice.
John Smith’s “be a giant obtuse loser in the comments section” strategy not going so well for him.
I’m 100% on the side of protecting our civil liberties (calling it “Apple’s” side is way too narrow of a view). That being said, I’m glad that this is happening. I want the FBI to be able to unlock certain devices after going through the correct channels and getting warrants. What I don’t want is any tech company being forced to compromise their own software so it’s easier for hackers to steal my data. Apple has a history of helping the FBI (when they’ve gone through the correct channels) and that fact is getting buried under them not wanting to hack their OS. this is a win win
“Just this once”
Apple resisted the demand to make a new iOS (GovtOS) as, to the FBI, if Apple can hack into one of their phones, they can hack into any of them that they deemed necessary. There are many other iPhones different jurisdictions and governments want to be investigated, and then suddenly the entire world is gathering outside Apple Headquarters shouting at them to open different phones in their possession. This case was never truly about one iPhone to begin with. You give an inch and they take a mile.
The teenagers aren’t worried because its easy to erase everything on the iphones remotely.
I’ve lost all respect for the FBI.
“FBI: the Federal Bureau of iPhones.” (via Jeff)