FBI-Apple Case Ends With FBI Unlocking The Shooter's iPhone

[Lucian Armasu]

FBI investigators were able to unlock the San Bernardino gunman's iPhone without help from Apple.

FBI-Apple Case Ends With FBI Unlocking The Shooter's iPhone : Read more

 

[hdmark]

I think a great ending to this story would be the FBI actually letting Apple know the vulnerability. Then apple fixes it, and we have another fun case in a year 😀

 

[Kenny Schneider]

Doesn't this feel a little hypocritical? Apple didn't want to help unlock it and told the US Govt. to sit and spin. Then the US Govt. unlocks it and they're supposed to tell Apple how to stop it in the future. Then, when a similar issue happens and the government has a right to the evidence via a warrant, won't this battle be doomed to repeat itself?

 

[ahnilated]

Doesn't this feel a little hypocritical? Apple didn't want to help unlock it and told the US Govt. to sit and spin. Then the US Govt. unlocks it and they're supposed to tell Apple how to stop it in the future. Then, when a similar issue happens and the government has a right to the evidence via a warrant, won't this battle be doomed to repeat itself?

This case was NEVER about just one phone no matter what the FBI stated. This was about setting case prescience so they could get into any phone whenever they wanted.

 

[hst101rox]

WHo knows, might not of been a bug. Maybe they took out the encryption chip and took layer by layer off until they could use special instruments to read the silicon to get the key. That was 1 method I remember was possible.
Or McCoffee found a vulnerability.
EDIT: Or an israeli firm.. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-encryption-cellebrite-idUSKCN0WP17J

 

[targetdrone]

I guess they took John Mcafee up on his offer to crack the phone.

 

[xHDx]

Doesn't this feel a little hypocritical? Apple didn't want to help unlock it and told the US Govt. to sit and spin. Then the US Govt. unlocks it and they're supposed to tell Apple how to stop it in the future. Then, when a similar issue happens and the government has a right to the evidence via a warrant, won't this battle be doomed to repeat itself?

No, this is the problem with organisations interfering with technology they don't have a clue about. It's not right that the government can decide on issue that they don't understand. The FBI wanted access by using the laziest technique possible which is asking for a backdoor. That's a clear definition of how an organisation has no idea about the tech they're trying to handle. It's a disgrace.

 

[Math Geek]

i'm glad they did it on their own but sadly we know next year they will be back with a new phone and a new request and it'll start all over.

this is how it should be, the fbi and the rest should crack what they can and then suck it up for what they can't. same as everyone else who wants to hack something. the question is whatever way in they found, is it still there in newer models and os versions? this is what we don't know much about yet. it had to be a hardware vulnerability and i know apple has steadily gotten the hardware itself more secure so it remains to be seen if this is still available to newer devices.

 

[Chris Droste]

Doesn't this feel a little hypocritical? Apple didn't want to help unlock it and told the US Govt. to sit and spin. Then the US Govt. unlocks it and they're supposed to tell Apple how to stop it in the future. Then, when a similar issue happens and the government has a right to the evidence via a warrant, won't this battle be doomed to repeat itself?

No, This is the government's own policy about disclosing vulnerabilities in a secure digital system. Originally the FBI was trying to coerce Apple into making a scriptkiddie cracker tool by using an old old 1800s-era evidence gathering policy never meant to encompass the digital era. it wasn't even the FBI itself that actually cracked the phone; it's very likely a 3rd-party firm working for a foreign government, which would even make it more in the US's interests to see to it that Apple gets information on this vulnerability considering it's still one of the only phones on the market with the Dept.of Defenses' coveted "Authority to Operate" seal of approval..

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

They can unlock any phone on the planet , that were just asking to be nice.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I actually heard from another source how they did it. Apparently, they managed to disable the feature that wipes the phone after 10 failed attempts, so once that was disabled, they were able to punch in the code until they got it right. Yes, it was someone's job to punch in a gazillion codes until it was right most likely. How fun 😛

 

[JamesSneed]

I actually heard from another source how they did it. Apparently, they managed to disable the feature that wipes the phone after 10 failed attempts, so once that was disabled, they were able to punch in the code until they got it right. Yes, it was someone's job to punch in a gazillion codes until it was right most likely. How fun 😛

Nobody is actually typing in pin codes. Cute you think that is the case. (hint they would still be entering the codes the next few months). One can assume it was a modified approach to the old IP-BOX.

https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/iphone-pin-pass-code/

 

[shrapnel_indie]

FBI has denied that it was trying to set a precedent so that other government agencies could later demand the same kind of assistance from Apple to unlock iPhones involved in other cases.

The EFF said that according to the Vulnerabilities Equities Process (VEP), which is the government's own policy for how it deals with disclosing vulnerabilities, the FBI must disclose the vulnerability if it affects just this one phone, but especially if it can affect other devices.

Riiiiight... just like the Gov't loves to follow the US Constitution and how it was meant to be interpreted.... just like they NEVER lie to citizens.... just like they follow every law they pass for us to follow.

They can unlock any phone on the planet , that were just asking to be nice.

Yup. Don't let what they say they can and can't break in encryption be taken as absolute truth.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I actually heard from another source how they did it. Apparently, they managed to disable the feature that wipes the phone after 10 failed attempts, so once that was disabled, they were able to punch in the code until they got it right. Yes, it was someone's job to punch in a gazillion codes until it was right most likely. How fun 😛

Nobody is actually typing in pin codes. Cute you think that is the case. (hint they would still be entering the codes the next few months). One can assume it was a modified approach to the old IP-BOX.

https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/iphone-pin-pass-code/

Actually all the possibilities could easily be entered within a day or so.

 

[taylormade415]

If I was the FBI, I would open up a new shop offering their Apple services to combat Apple helping terrorists

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Yawn, the FBI. The FBI does nothing too thrilling anyway, the majority of every FBI agent's time is spent creating the uniform crime rate. That is like 90% of what the FBI does.

 

[beayn]

I actually heard from another source how they did it. Apparently, they managed to disable the feature that wipes the phone after 10 failed attempts, so once that was disabled, they were able to punch in the code until they got it right. Yes, it was someone's job to punch in a gazillion codes until it was right most likely. How fun 😛

There are only 10,000 combinations in a 4 digit code, and there are higher occurences of certain codes than others, so they'd start with most common and work their way down. One person could do it relatively quickly.
Now if it were the 6 digit code with 1 million possibilities, they still might be able to manually break it by first trying the most common codes, but if it took a day for 10,000 combinations it could take up to 100 days for 6 digits and you might want another method like a robot arm or some shit.

Nobody is actually typing in pin codes. Cute you think that is the case. (hint they would still be entering the codes the next few months). One can assume it was a modified approach to the old IP-BOX.

https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/iphone-pin-pass-code/

 

[COLGeek]

As there has been no proof that the phone in question was actually accessed (beyond what is being reported), I tend to remain skeptical. A major point of an encrypted OS (like used on the iPhone) is that the phone itself wipes the phone's data after repeated attempts to access the phone.

Assuming the FBI tried, failed, and then locked/wiped the phone, accessing the phone afterward should produce nothing (other than a possibly reset phone). This seems way too convenient and easy.

Far from the tinfoil hat community, it seems to me that there are several HUGE gaps in this story. I prefer to withhold judgment until we know more.

I still support Apple's position to not comply with the FBI's request (and subsequently dropped legal effort).

 

[surphninja]

They could have unlocked the phone all along. They were just interested in using this case to set a legal precedent. When public opinion turned against them, they abandoned those plans (or rather delayed until a worse attack softens the public's opinion).

 

[wifiburger]

make no mistakes NSA, CIA has undercover personnel working at Apple and Microsoft and knows every loop into Apple or Microsoft products, not saying it's bad, or news worthy ,but yeah.....

 

[avytech]

make no mistakes NSA, CIA has undercover personnel working at Apple and Microsoft and knows every loop into Apple or Microsoft products, not saying it's bad, or news worthy ,but yeah.....

That seriously wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Scooterfitz]

There is no backdoor, the FBI is bluffing. Now the FBI will say they didn't get anything useful from the phone so they do not have to prove they compromised it, and Apple will be unable to make them prove it either.

 

[ddpruitt]

I really don't think the FBI was able to unlock the phone. From everything that's happened I think that the FBI dropped the case and claimed they unlock the phone to save face. Regardless of the outcome of the case it would have turned out badly for law enforcement, either in the short term or the long term. The FBI probably figured this out (more than a little late) and figured this was the best way to get out of it.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

I guess they took John Mcafee up on his offer to crack the phone.

Isnt Mcafee currently bugnuts down in Belize these days?

 

[Math Geek]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/san-bernardino-shooting/fbi-unlock-iphone-arkansas-case-after-san-bernardino-hack-n548366

they are offering to unlock an iphone for a case in arkansas right now. seems they did manage it and plan on unlocking as many as they can. since they are in custody, they won't be updated with any new patch to fix the vulnerability so it's possible they will be able to unlock a lot of phones depending on how they are doing it and if the exploit exists in newer phones.

it will be a hardware based hack for sure and apple has always been good about securing the hardware better and better each generation of phone. remains to be seen what they can and can't do. keep an eye on the news for cases they offer to help in for some insight into what abilities they actually have. nothing but iphone 5c's and it'll be clear the exploit is gone from newer phones. a whole range of phones or even phones they don't have in custody yet and we'll know it is a vulnerability in the whole line of phones.