Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's just a figure of speech.
Being a figure of speech has little to do with the statement being factually incorrect.
Yes it does, since it's not presented as factual.
Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
161–170 of 243 posts
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#162How 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?
The gobertment does not need to use advanced stuff when they can just use coercion. https://xkcd.com/538/ When the Roman Empire wanted something like water engineering or gold mining they found out who did it best, and then did invade the territory and enslave those who knew how to do it. Steel traders from India will tell Romans it came from China so they did not invade it. When the US three letter agencies want som…
Replace “water engineering” and “gold mining” with “oil” and “lithium mining” to see that the world hasn’t changed much in some important ways in 2000 years, no matter how thin our phones are or how close to self driving our cars are getting...
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As if you can create a secret communication channel that members of the public can join but the FBI is unable to infiltrate. Back in the day people used to, hilariously, have MOTD notices on all of their illegal servers saying the internet equivalent of "You have to tell me if you're a cop".
I first saw that on BBS's, and it made it's way onto some forums in the early days of the web. I always found it humorous what laws they'd cite, when they bother to, to say basically "By clicking this button you assert you're not law enforcement officer".
This reminded _SWIM_ of another artifact of netizen legalese. Some forums were almost hysterical as nobody ever did or experienced anything ever. There was only frequent hearsay about "Someone who [wasn't] me".
I hope SWIM is still in good health, despite everything they've been through.
Would be interesting to know if saying SWIM did, or didn't, save someone from unwanted legal attention at some point.
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually this is not correct, you can also use key which is destroyed on lock.
For instant messaging you need to be able to receive messages even when the phone is locked. So the key material can't be destroyed and must be left exposed. You could encrypt old messages separately, but the result would end up being very inconvenient.
> For instant messaging you need to be able to receive messages even when the phone is locked.
Why?
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#165Any reason why they can't access it from icloud backups?
Access what?
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually this is not correct, you can also use key which is destroyed on lock.
For instant messaging you need to be able to receive messages even when the phone is locked. So the key material can't be destroyed and must be left exposed. You could encrypt old messages separately, but the result would end up being very inconvenient.
You can receive encrypted messages and store them while locked. You only need the key material when reading the messages, which then uses the apps unlock pin to retrieve the key material from the Secure Enclave.
Quite how Signal deals with notifications I’m not sure, perhaps your right and the encryption key s persistent while the app is in the background so it can show you the sender and message on the Lock Screen? But it doesn’t _have_ to be that way. Wickr (which I trust way less than Signal) seems to at least have its UI set up to imply that’s what it’s doing.
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah it's a commonly held misconception spanning decades that cops must identify themselves if asked. I wonder where it originated. Needs some sunlight like: Badger: "Prove you're not a cop." ... Undercover cop: "If you ask a cop if he's a cop, he's like... obligated to tell you -- it's in the Constitution." - Breaking Bad, Season 2, Episode 8, moments before Badger gets arrested
I don’t think the server notices were based on this assumption. They were trying to use the draconian cyber security laws instituted after Mitnick and others got caught, which stipulated 10 years jail time for “unauthorised access to a computer system.”
Not a lawyer, but I seriously doubt any prosecutor would bring a criminal case against a law enforcement officer whose access to a system was denied for being a law enforcement officer, and while there are some situations where one can make a civil claim under the CFAA, what legitimate damages could you show that an officer caused you by accessing your site in the furtherance of their duty? If someone actually tried to sue for this, it would be a very interesting case indeed.
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But note that Signal doesn't know your number Courts can compel them to keep these records, and require them to not disclose to their customers that they are doing so.
At least Apple have demonstrated pushing back on a court order requiring them to fundamentally break their product’s advertised security to comply with such an order. I’d be curious to see if WhisperSystems are prepared enough to lawyer up and fight like that. (I suspect they’d probably get NSLed like Lavabit did we won’t know about it until way later...)
According to the Snowden leaks, Apple's been a part of PRISM for quite some time.
Seems to me like the trial was a show for PR, and a win for the FBI because now a ton of people are under the impression that they can commit crimes without a trace if they have an iPhone.
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
I first saw that on BBS's, and it made it's way onto some forums in the early days of the web. I always found it humorous what laws they'd cite, when they bother to, to say basically "By clicking this button you assert you're not law enforcement officer".
Yeah it's a commonly held misconception spanning decades that cops must identify themselves if asked. I wonder where it originated. Needs some sunlight like: Badger: "Prove you're not a cop." ... Undercover cop: "If you ask a cop if he's a cop, he's like... obligated to tell you -- it's in the Constitution." - Breaking Bad, Season 2, Episode 8, moments before Badger gets arrested
> it's a commonly held misconception spanning decades that cops must identify themselves if asked. I wonder where it originated.
Perhaps it comes from some of the loose laws that require police to make some attempt to announce themselves and their purpose in specific situations (i.e. when executing a search warrant where they don't have reason to believe announcing themselves would pose a risk to their well being)
Re: Evidence that the FBI can hack into private Signal messages on a locked iPhone
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
For instant messaging you need to be able to receive messages even when the phone is locked. So the key material can't be destroyed and must be left exposed. You could encrypt old messages separately, but the result would end up being very inconvenient.
You can receive encrypted messages and store them while locked. You only need the key material when reading the messages, which then uses the apps unlock pin to retrieve the key material from the Secure Enclave. Quite how Signal deals with notifications I’m not sure, perhaps your right and the encryption key s persistent while the app is in the background so it can show you the sender and message on the Lock Screen?…
Fair enough, but my point still remains. You need the key material any time the phone is unlocked. Because we are doing instant messaging that is going to be a lot more exposure time than with some sort of offline system.