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A Message to Our Customers

apple.com

581–590 of 1001 posts

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#581
post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how can the custom iOS build be installed on the device while it is locked?

"The SIF will be loaded via Device Firmware Upgrade ("DFU") mode, recovery mode, or other applicable mode available to the FBI."

DFU/Recovery wipes the device.

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#583
The important lesson here is that it is time to design the next phones in a way that makes it impossible to either install a software update without unlocking the device or implement auto-erase functionality in hardware.

That way for future phones at least, the issue would become moot: there would be no way for Apple to build and/or install a custom software image that allows brute-force password cracking.

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#584
I think Apple tried to prove that they don't give any user data to agencies. PR stunt. But actually they got it fundamentally wrong as this was actually case of national security and the attack that happened. So huge PR stunt, but a own goal

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#585

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the missing information here is how the phone is encrypted. If it's done with the 4-digit numeric PIN, then the software could be built; it would take 10000 tries, but at less than .1 seconds per try, it would be able to crack the code in about 15 minutes. The current iPhone has a protection for this; after some number of tries, it will lock you out for increasing time intervals. This is the only way that the…

Check out this comment where Adam Stew explains how the phones are secured: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8756397&cid=51524693

That's really cool, thanks for the link

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm afraid I'm too skeptical to get the same assurances as you. Apple accuses the FBI of playing language games with the term "backdoor", but I think Apple has done the same. The fact that they can push weak OS updates to a locked phone is the backdoor . This means that they can already comply with the court order, and they likely will. This letter covers them from PR damage.

It's not just PR. It's actually really hurting their company. Weaker security means less data can be stored on the iPhone which means less need for it, which means fewer sales.

Thank you for answering one of my questions: "Why does a multi-billion-dollar company give one lick about personal freedom ?".

Companies exist to make money, not to protect our rights. It even crossed my mind that the possibility that NSA et. al. rooted these devices long ago, and that this whole "debate" is just a staged thing to make it appear as though we had any privacy and feigned adherence to the democratic process.

But your point that, as a matter of policy, many organizations will simply not use the product if they know it has backdoors, relates it back to their capitalist motivation and makes any conspiracy less likely.

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#588
post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you can draw the conclusion that Apple can push OS updates to a locked phone. What Tim Cook wrote is that > "install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation." > "the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession." So the FBI has the physical phone already. They can deliver to Apple who can disassemble it and either use a JTAG/Flash programmer on an internal connector to manua…

"I'm not sure you can draw the conclusion that Apple can push OS updates to a locked phone." The iphone contains a sim card. A sim card is a complete, general purpose computer with its own CPU and RAM and the ability to run arbitrary java programs that can be uploaded, without your knowledge by your carrier. You are owned . Deeply, profoundly, in ways that you have no way to manage/mitigate. The real question, for me…

With a sensibly-built phone, that SIM card does not have the ability to access anything of value on the device.

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#589

So the FBI is asking Apple to build a tool that will unlock security measures of an existing iPhone, like the one in the San Bernadino shooting, and allow it to be read. The problem with this is that no such tool should be possible to build. It should not be a matter of yes or no; it should be simply impossible for Apple to build such a tool without the private key of the user, which Apple does not have. If it is pos…

I think the missing information here is how the phone is encrypted. If it's done with the 4-digit numeric PIN, then the software could be built; it would take 10000 tries, but at less than .1 seconds per try, it would be able to crack the code in about 15 minutes. The current iPhone has a protection for this; after some number of tries, it will lock you out for increasing time intervals. This is the only way that the…

I mean this sincerely: has the government used one of its 10 tries on the attacker's birth year? I hope the government has burned a couple tries on low-hanging guesses before going through this legal hassle.

Re: A Message to Our Customers

#590
post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you can draw the conclusion that Apple can push OS updates to a locked phone. What Tim Cook wrote is that > "install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation." > "the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession." So the FBI has the physical phone already. They can deliver to Apple who can disassemble it and either use a JTAG/Flash programmer on an internal connector to manua…

"I'm not sure you can draw the conclusion that Apple can push OS updates to a locked phone." The iphone contains a sim card. A sim card is a complete, general purpose computer with its own CPU and RAM and the ability to run arbitrary java programs that can be uploaded, without your knowledge by your carrier. You are owned . Deeply, profoundly, in ways that you have no way to manage/mitigate. The real question, for me…

I think the answer to your question is embedded in your assumption: that updating the SIM card would be sufficient to recover data from this iPhone.

In my experience, law enforcement does not make their own jobs harder on purpose. If there is an easy way to get that data, they would use that way to get it.

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