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Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

forbes.com

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Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#51

Post by DC1350 »

jaywalk wrote: post #44
DC1350 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know contractors are common but I don’t know if they’re paid a lot or if they can ignore the government employee pay scale.

Contractors are not government employees, so why would the government employee pay scale apply to them?

Everything I know about contractors and government work comes from Edward Snowden’s memoir where he was paid like garbage ($120k as a senior IIRC) to work as a contractor for the NSA. That’s why I thought it might matter. I’m sorry you don’t like my question

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#53

Post by [deleted] »

analognoise wrote: post #49
nosequel wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First off, others have pointed out that these are 3rd party software companies providing the tools. I'd like to talk about your other point though: > I’ve never met a skilled developer willing to work for what the government pays So there are a lot of very skilled developers working for the government right now. I'd agree you probably haven't met them. I've found that people who work for the government, especially on…

You forgot a huge dimension of those jobs: As you get older, you are more valuable. No "silicon valley" syndrome about age: you'd never have to dye your hair, wear a hoodie to fit in, nobody will blink if you have to take a day off to take care of the kids. You can be a real adult - nobody comes into those programs and expects a ball pit or a foosball table, and nobody seriously thinks someone right out of college bu…

[deleted]

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#54

Post by angry_octet »

DC1350 wrote: post #7

How is it possible that the FBI has so much advanced stuff when I’ve never met a skilled developer willing to work for what the government pays? Are their tools developed by high paid contractors?

Maybe you're hanging out with the wrong people?

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#55

Post by sprayk »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #34
IgorBog61650384 wrote: post #2

I don't think this should surprise anyone. The FBI has multiple methods for accessing locked phones: using physical exploits like those provided by Cellbrite, or through baseband attacks - i.e. first attacking the cellular modem and from there using an exploit to get to the main ARM cpu, or through exploits or backdoors in any app the phone had that do background refresh through the web while the phone is locked. I t…

Your understanding of baseband attacks is not correct. Having a baseband exploit would not facilitate this. Nor would exploits/backdoors in any particular app.

Why couldn't a baseband attack facilitate this? It was shown at least as far back as 2017[0] that a program on a baseband could affect the memory of the application processor, and in 2018[1] that a specially crafted message can achieve an RCE on a baseband. Since then, cell modems have gotten even more integrated with APs.

[0] https://comsecuris.com/blog/posts/path_of_least_resistance/ [1] https://i.blackhat.com/us-18/Thu-August-9/us-18-Grassi-Explo...

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#56

Post by Kranar »

jaywalk wrote: post #44
DC1350 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know contractors are common but I don’t know if they’re paid a lot or if they can ignore the government employee pay scale.

Contractors are not government employees, so why would the government employee pay scale apply to them?

When someone asks a question, why not just answer it instead of questioning the person and making them feel stupid about not knowing something?

At any rate, the U.S. government imposes many standards on federal government contractors including minimum wage standards, hiring practices, paid sick leave, a host of responsibilities that any contractor that wishes to do business with the federal government MUST adhere to. For example, in the area of construction all federal contractors must pay employees at a minimum, the prevailing wage including benefits for the locality of the construction site. It's not unreasonable to think and to ask what are the requirements and responsibilities that IT professionals working as federal contractors might also have. There are a ton of other requirements and conditions that you can read more about some of those requirements here:

https://www.employer.gov/EmploymentIssues/Federal-contractor...

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#57

Post by johnisgood »

keyme wrote: post #21
everdrive wrote: post #16

If you own the phone, the messages are decrypted. This seems to be more about the phone access than anything to do with Signal, right?

Of course. All these articles and "criticisms" of Signal started popping up right after the recent WhatsApp mini exodus. What a coincidence.

WhatsApp is even worse, let us not even go there. If anything, I would go with Briar.

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#58

Post by nefitty »

godelski wrote: post #48
brandmeyer wrote: post #20

Universal encryption is a defense against blanket vacuuming of communications for later offline analysis. Its a defense against a massive parallel MITM attack against the world's communications infrastructure. Its not a defense against targeted attacks of individual devices.

In addition to this, I frequently hear people talk about how Signal would prevent monitoring of groups like those that stormed the capital. As if you can create a secret communication channel that members of the public can join but the FBI is unable to infiltrate. Signal and E2EE stop dragnets, not targeted efforts. Which honestly is exactly what I want and seems like what we want in a free and open society. Monitori…

This comment helped clarify a lot of my intuitions regarding privacy.

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#59

Post by jb775 »

Rather than hacking Signal itself, maybe they were able to access the iOS app preview files from the iOS app-switcher? I'd imagine the app-switcher (the feature when you swipe up to switch between recently used apps) works by overwriting a screenshot every time it's minimized. Maybe they were able to access this data directly or indirectly (or maybe even via iCloud).

There's a setting in Signal where you can hide the screenshot in the app-switcher, but could still be triggered and stored somewhere. Or maybe they just got lucky and one of the guys had it disabled.

Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone

#60

Post by jaywalk »

Kranar wrote: post #56
jaywalk wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contractors are not government employees, so why would the government employee pay scale apply to them?

When someone asks a question, why not just answer it instead of questioning the person and making them feel stupid about not knowing something? At any rate, the U.S. government imposes many standards on federal government contractors including minimum wage standards, hiring practices, paid sick leave, a host of responsibilities that any contractor that wishes to do business with the federal government MUST adhere to.…

Sometimes a little prodding can lead to more learning. Your answer on the other hand is so coddling that it could lead someone who's not paying attention to believing that the government pay scale actually does apply to contractors.
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