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The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

bloomberg.com

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Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#11

Post by zimpenfish »

mtgx wrote: post #5
coldcode wrote: post #4

Given Apple's almost unlimited cash they could always make companies like this an offer no intelligent person could turn down (especially if public) and have them explain what they do.

I wonder, is Apple hiring such companies to poke holes at its OS before it gets out of beta, or even after it's launched? Because if not, maybe they should.

Yes, they are.

http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/03/apple-legbacore-thunderst...

"All was quiet after the researchers' announcement, and for good reason: Apple purchased their security firm -- LegbaCore -- just two months after news of Thunderstrike 2 broke. According to the company's founder Xeno Kovah, the team is going to be working on "low-level security" at Apple, which we'll take as shorthand for making sure that OS X's firmware is less susceptible to attacks in the future."

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#12

Post by venomsnake »

coldcode wrote: post #4

Given Apple's almost unlimited cash they could always make companies like this an offer no intelligent person could turn down (especially if public) and have them explain what they do.

When you mix with operative/intelligence crowd - the work is incredibly fun, the access you have to all kinds of info (and people and gear) is unprecedented and the generous compensation is a nice side effect.

Apple can top the compensation, but not the first two parts.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#13

Post by jo909 »

madaxe_again wrote: post #8
jo909 wrote: post #2

Cellebrite is an Israeli company, not Japanese. They are owned by a Japanese parent company, but I'd argue that is not the same. Volkswagen owning 100% of Lamborghini does not make the latter a german car manufacturer.

Yeah, I'd say that this is actually a piece intended to try to prevent any political fallout with a close ally of the US (Israel) at the expense of the nuclear whipping boy (Japan).

I'd say this is mainly financial news, where the ownership and stock market representation is actually relevant. But it's a very weak piece to learn much about Cellebrite, and makes it sound like they build pinball machines and games before hacking iPhones.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#14

Post by Nrsolis »

venomsnake wrote: post #12
coldcode wrote: post #4

Given Apple's almost unlimited cash they could always make companies like this an offer no intelligent person could turn down (especially if public) and have them explain what they do.

When you mix with operative/intelligence crowd - the work is incredibly fun, the access you have to all kinds of info (and people and gear) is unprecedented and the generous compensation is a nice side effect. Apple can top the compensation, but not the first two parts.

Those who know don't say, those who say don't know.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#15

Post by spaceisballer »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #7

> "... built its business on pinball game machines and stumbled into the mobile phone security business almost by accident." (first paragraph) Pinball? In Japan? this isn't going to be pinball. > "has been building pinball-like game machines found in Japan’s pachinko parlors since the 1970s" (third paragraph). So it isn't pinball at all, it's pachinko. I know this is almost besides the point, but do Bloomberg really…

While pachinko is huge in Japan, pinball is also very popular. Source: My Uncle worked for Williams pinball, and Japan is where they made most of their money.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#16

Post by ilzmastr »

zimpenfish wrote: post #9
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #7

> "... built its business on pinball game machines and stumbled into the mobile phone security business almost by accident." (first paragraph) Pinball? In Japan? this isn't going to be pinball. > "has been building pinball-like game machines found in Japan’s pachinko parlors since the 1970s" (third paragraph). So it isn't pinball at all, it's pachinko. I know this is almost besides the point, but do Bloomberg really…

A bit unfair since "pinball machine" used to refer to exactly what a pachinko machine is for a couple of hundred years before the "modern pinball" arrived. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball has the first bagatelle spring plunger around 1750 and flippers around 1947)

IMO it's a difference worth mentioning when pachinko is a big enough addiction there to make $187B in 2014 (vs US casinos $65.6B) and cause child deaths (while I was there, maybe is better now)

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=19960702&id=...

I get a different sense of lucre when I hear "left the pinball industry for better margins" (pocket change gaming) vs left the gambling industry (life savings gaming)

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#17

Post by spaceisballer »

jason46 wrote: post #10

I wonder if their approach only works on iphone5 and not the 6? I thought I read somewhere the 6 has more advanced security features?

We will really only know if they release what they did. My assumption is that it will not work with iPhone 5S and later.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#18

Post by gr3yh47 »

spaceisballer wrote: post #15
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #7

> "... built its business on pinball game machines and stumbled into the mobile phone security business almost by accident." (first paragraph) Pinball? In Japan? this isn't going to be pinball. > "has been building pinball-like game machines found in Japan’s pachinko parlors since the 1970s" (third paragraph). So it isn't pinball at all, it's pachinko. I know this is almost besides the point, but do Bloomberg really…

While pachinko is huge in Japan, pinball is also very popular. Source: My Uncle worked for Williams pinball, and Japan is where they made most of their money.

Would love to see a non-anecdotal source on this, as my understanding is that pinball sales in the US absolutley dwarfs totals for the rest of the world. Not saying Williams didn't do lots of other sales in Japan, but pinball-as-in-two-ish-flippers pinball sales should be highest in the US.

Re: The Little-Known Firm Helping the FBI Crack iPhones

#20

Post by sumoboy »

coldcode wrote: post #4

Given Apple's almost unlimited cash they could always make companies like this an offer no intelligent person could turn down (especially if public) and have them explain what they do.

Apple should stop being stubborn and start offering up a bug bounty program and start paying out big $$.
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