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Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

latimes.com

31–40 of 129 posts

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#32
Um, Apple doesn't really care, but they are continuing to stick it to the FBI.

If the FBI cracked the phone, then Apple can smack them with it when this comes around again. If the FBI didn't crack the phone, then Apple can smack them with it for dropping the lawsuit.

This is just Apple saying "Fuck you, FBI, for bringing this lawsuit and then dropping it when things went badly. You're gonna sweat some more before you get off the hook."

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#33
post #9

I really find this whole thing hilarious. First, it's Apple sticking it to the FBI by making a stand for privacy and receiving public accolades doing so as a champion of privacy. The FBI is the bad guy trying to invade our privacy. Now, it's the FBI sending a giant "screw you" to Apple by not only letting them know they were able to hack into the phone without Apple's help but at the same time, making a mockery of Ap…

>letting them know they were able to hack into the phone without Apple's help but at the same time, making a mockery of Apple's entire security claims.

What proof do you have that the FBI hacked the phone? The only piece of evidence we have is that the FBI withdrew the case. That could be either 1.) They were able to crack the phone (unsubstantiated TMK) 2.) They realize they lost the debate regarding encryption but didn't want to risk setting precedent

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#35
post #9

I really find this whole thing hilarious. First, it's Apple sticking it to the FBI by making a stand for privacy and receiving public accolades doing so as a champion of privacy. The FBI is the bad guy trying to invade our privacy. Now, it's the FBI sending a giant "screw you" to Apple by not only letting them know they were able to hack into the phone without Apple's help but at the same time, making a mockery of Ap…

>Now, it's the FBI sending a giant "screw you" to Apple by not only letting them know they were able to hack into the phone without Apple's help

Everyone knew they could do this and they only tried to use this whole thing to get easy access to all phones from Apple.

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely that they did manage to find a 3rd party that could unlock it and found nothing, this wasn't the suspects personal phone (those were also recovered) but it was his work phone, the 6 week old backups had no information on it, the attack was planned more than 6 weeks in advance and it is highly unlikely that he used his work phone to contact any one involved in this. They've probably spent six to seven figu…

If you were a lock or safe maker, wouldn't you want to know how people were able to crack your product so you could improve it in the next version? Or would you just keep trying to sell a version of the thing that people buy to keep their stuff safe with a known exploit? Good luck.

What lock do you have on your door? Something standard like this: http://goo.gl/cuIenh (Image of lock)? That can be opened easily in a number of seconds without damaging the lock with at least 2 well known techniques. Yet that is the lock installed on new doors on peoples homes. They don't care, people don't want/need actual security they just want to keep the idiot burglars out and be able to claim the value of their losses via insurance. While professionals will get in just fine via the front door without any trace of breaking and entering. And because the people don't care, the lock-makers don't care. The ones who care the most are the professional burglars who would like nothing more than for everyone to stay asleep and preferrably for the techniques to be forgotten.

In short; lock-makers continue to make exploitable locks just fine, because they sell just fine. The moment they stop selling is the moment they'll fix the issues. Nobody is going to skip the next iPhone because the FBI allegedly managed to crack one, security is not one of the features people care about (in general).

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#38
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"without any hardware intervention". Hmm, does this mean they're not desoldering the flash?

Cellebrite's full portfolio is not public what you see on their site are very basic turn-key solutions. They have a bespoke service called CAIS as well as few other unlisted services which they do not advertise openly given their sensitive nature. Their turn-key forensic solutions are tailored for general law enforcement and the public sector (private investigators, corporate security, law firms etc.), CAIS is usuall…

> Cellebrite's full portfolio is not public

So, basically their own collection of zero-days and techniques? Do they come up with them themselves, or do they buy them on the exploit market?

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#39

The only people who don't notify software developers of exploits they find in their systems are criminals. That the FBI are happy to act like black hat hackers in this is pretty amazing.

There are probably few such criminals reading your comment now :)

There are sensible reasons not to report vulns, like utter incompetence of the system's owners or the system's security standing in the way of your perfectly legal activities.

Re: Apple wants the FBI to reveal how it hacked the San Bernardino killer's iPhone

#40
post #32

Um, Apple doesn't really care, but they are continuing to stick it to the FBI. If the FBI cracked the phone, then Apple can smack them with it when this comes around again. If the FBI didn't crack the phone, then Apple can smack them with it for dropping the lawsuit. This is just Apple saying "Fuck you, FBI, for bringing this lawsuit and then dropping it when things went badly. You're gonna sweat some more before you…

Apple does care because the public (mainly non US) cares. That said Apple can't really smack the FBI, in fact if the FBI tries this again on a different case saying that they've exhausted all options and that neither them nor any other 3rd party can unlock the phone that puts pressure on Apple not the FBI.

And considering that the according to polling data only about 30% of the people say that Apple should not unlock the phone and 50% saying they should the public opinion doesn't really works for them currently.

The FBI might be playing the long game, they'll unlock a couple of phones (or pretend to do so), even cooperate with Apple and when the time comes go back to court saying that Apple fixed any potential flaw, and that the FBI might've even assisted them in doing so and now they hit a wall and need Apple's help.

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